The Spirit of Hope
by Raikura
Summary: T.K. left Odaiba to live with his mother in Hokkaido almost a year and a half ago. Returning with no warning at the beginning of his senior year, T.K. and Kari face an awkward reunion and new adventures in the digital world bring a dangerous threat. It centers around T.K. and Kari, but the other characters will play important roles as well. Takari fans may enjoy as well.
1. Awkward Reunion - Ch 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or have any associations with those who do.

I've been a huge fan of digimon since it first aired in the US in 1999. With the revival of the Adventure characters in the new anime series, Digimon Tri, and my 13 years of writing experience, I've decided to take a little time to write a fanfic. This isn't my first try at digimon fanfiction, however my last one was when I was 13 or 14.  
Obviously not going to pay an editor to go over this, but I'll do my best to create a readable story for everyone to enjoy. Thank you in advance.

* * *

 _April—Beginning of Senior Year_

Kari inhaled deeply, pushing her long brown hair back behind her ear as she stared out the classroom window, a dreary overcast sky staring back at her. The bell rang, signaling the last class had finally finished. Davis, sitting next to her, immediately turned to her and began rambling. Distracted she only partially heard what he said, noting keywords, like soccer and game this weekend. She smiled politely, "I'll be there."

Davis stood from his seat and stretched, "What do you want to do while we wait?" He slipped his green school jacket off and tossed it on his backpack. His hair had grown a lot too over the last few years, a little more unruly but not unattractive. He had finally omitted his goggle obsession, but they were always in his pack.

Kari shrugged as she packed her books into her backpack, standing she patted down her school uniform shirt. "Yolie won't be here for another half hour. We could go meet up with Cody and see what he wants to do."

It was the beginning of hers and Davis' senior year in high school, Cody a grade below them. Yolie had graduated and was going to the local community college with Ken who had graduated the year prior. Yolie and Ken usually showed up about thirty minutes after their classes ended and they would meet up in the computer lab to go to the digital world a few times a week. Since it was Friday, Kari and Davis didn't wait in the classroom doing their homework like normal; they had the whole weekend to do so.

"So, what's the plan?" Davis asked as they walked through the hall, spotting Cody coming from his classroom a ways down the hall.

Kari shrugged. "Yolie said something about a perimeter check. But we can probably just do what we normally do."

Cody waited for them outside his classroom and began walking with them as they made their way upstairs to the computer lab. Cody had always been fairly short, even for his age, but he was now almost as tall as Davis. "Are we just going to wait in the lab?"

Davis shrugged. "If that's what you want to do." He grumbled. "Why can't Yolie and Ken just meet us in the digital world?"

Cody shook his head. "You know the computers on campus are available to students day and night, it's basically a public place in that regard, so opening a digiport and leaving it unattended like that isn't a good idea."

Kari nodded. "Here everyone usually heads home right after class, so we don't have to worry about it."

Davis rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. It's still annoying."

After a few minutes of slow walking, killing as much time as possible, they finally made it to the computer lab. Davis and Cody were a few steps ahead of Kari, opening the door carelessly Davis stopped abruptly, "Oh. Sorry. I didn't know anyone was still in here—" he turned and started to shut the door, doing a double take he slammed it back open staring at the familiar face.

"T.K.!?" Both Cody and Davis yelled out in surprise.

The blond turned from the computer he was sitting at, taking out the black earbuds from his ears he smiled brightly at the two. "Long time no see." Davis and Cody stumbled through the doorway in shock.

"Dude, it's been like a year." Davis walked up to him, giving him a fist bump.

T.K. nodded. "A year and a half almost." He was in casual clothing, dark jeans, a white t-shirt and a dark grey hoodie. His hair had grown out a bit, the length adding messy wave to its style.

Cody gave T.K. a quick hug and asked eagerly. "How come you're back from Hokkaido?"

T.K. shrugged. "Mom was planning on moving again so I decided to get a place with Matt in Odaiba and finish off my senior year here."

"Hey, that's awesome." Davis turned around towards the doorway, "Kari—"

Davis and Cody both looked at the doorway confused. Cody looked up to Davis and frowned. "Kari was right behind us a second ago, wasn't she?"

Davis nodded. "Yeah." Walking to the doorway he peered into the dim hallway, finding it completely empty. "That's strange."

T.K. shifted in his seat and set his earbuds down on the desk next to his phone. "Cody, watch my stuff a minute?" standing he headed out of the computer lab.

#

Kari couldn't catch her breath, she'd heard Davis and Cody yell out T.K.'s name and ran. It couldn't be. It'd been well over a year since he left to go to Hokkaido with his mother. She hadn't spoken to him since the day before he left and she thought she may never see him again after what had happened between them that day.

She inhaled deeply and pressed her back against the outside wall of the gym. Closing her eyes tightly she tried to collect herself, desperately trying to make it make sense. Suddenly she heard his voice right next to her. It was slightly deeper, but it _was_ him.

"You let your hair grow out. It looks nice." He leaned against the wall next to her, a few inches away.

Kari opened her eyes, but didn't dare look over at him, fixing her gaze on the concrete below instead. She opened her mouth to speak but she found the words wouldn't form and simply nodded in response.

T.K. sighed after a short silence between them. "I know I should have told you I was coming back."

Kari finally glanced over at T.K. finding his deep blue eyes also fixed on the ground, a mild frown furrowing his brow. "T.K. …" she started but he stopped her.

"I don't want things to be awkward between us. Alright?" He looked over at her and gave her a weak grin. "I never wanted to lose you as a friend. That wasn't what I was trying to do."

Trying to think of a response, Kari remained silent.

T.K. continued. "I know things probably won't ever go back to how they were before. But I'm going to try really hard not to make this hard on you."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

T.K. shrugged, placing his hands in his coat pockets. "I made sure we were in different classes." Kari's eyes widened. "I also signed up for the basketball team, so I won't even be able to go to the digital world every time you guys do."

T.K. pushed away from the wall and took a few steps away, stopping abruptly as Kari gripped the back of his sweatshirt. "You didn't have to do that—"

"I know I made myself sound pretty selfless right now, but the truth is I did it for both our sakes. If my feelings for you were so easily washed away there would have been no point in risking our friendship to tell you."

Kari let go of T.K.'s jacket. Tears forming in her eyes, threatening to slide down her cheeks. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

T.K. looked up at the overcast sky, seeing it was likely going to rain. "I just wanted to see everyone for a bit. I won't stick around."

* * *

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed it. Please feel free to review.

If you are interested in my original work, you can visit my website by googling _**the silent ballad series**_ to find information on my book series I'm currently self-publishing.


	2. Feeling Unwelcome - Ch 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or have any association with those who do.

Been working on this story for a few days so I already have the next chapter done. I'm not writing this for reviews, (though I love to hear what people think) so I won't stop halfway through because no one reviews my story. It's mostly for myself, but I wanted to share it with other Digimon fans.

* * *

T.K. walked back into the computer lab where Cody and a slightly disgruntled Davis had been waiting. He gave them an apologetic grin and clapped his hands together. "Sorry. Sorry." He walked over and began picking up his things from the desk.

Davis gave him a dirty look and finally asked. "Where is she?"

T.K. shrugged. "I couldn't find her."

Davis' frown softened. "Oh."

Cody looked skeptically at his old friend. "Are you leaving already?"

T.K. nodded. "I still haven't finished unpacking. I was just here today doing some make up tests and I thought I'd wait around and say hi."

Just as T.K. swung his backpack up over his shoulder a shrill excited voice chimed in from the doorway. "No way!"

T.K. smiled wearily as Yolie bounded into the room and gave him a hug. "When did you get back into town?"

"Three days ago." T.K. replied quietly.

Davis looked back at the doorway and waved at Ken who walked in slowly. "You guys are way late." He hadn't change too much over the years.

Ken shrugged. "If I let Yolie drive we're here in ten minutes. I generally like living so I drove today."

Yolie turned on her heals, her now shorter violet hair flew around her face. "Excuse me if I actually like to do the speed limit."

Cody shivered. "You mean ten miles per hour over the speed limit." Obvious past experiences had traumatized the boy.

"You be quiet." Yolie hissed at Cody.

Ken sighed. "Hey, glad to see you made it back in one piece. Heard the weather was pretty bad up north the other day."

T.K. smiled. "It wasn't terrible. The train got delayed for about twenty minutes at one stop, but that was about it."

Yolie frowned. "Ken, did you know T.K. was coming back to Odaiba?"

Ken nodded. "Well, yeah. He told me a few weeks ago."

Davis narrowed his eyes at Ken. "You didn't think to mention that to anyone?"

T.K.'s phone suddenly went off. "Shoot. I'll be right back." He stepped out of the room and answered the phone.

Ken frowned at Davis. "Well I didn't think I had to say anything to anyone. I figured he would just tell you all himself."

Cody looked guiltily at the floor. "I haven't really stayed in very good contact with T.K. since he left. I've just had so much going on with my grandpa needing me to help teach at the dojo after school and… well…"

Yolie nodded. "Don't feel too bad, basically the same thing happened with me and my family's convenience store—and college of course."

Davis shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I'm a bad friend. I never really tried to email him or anything."

Ken looked at all of them skeptically. "I'm seriously the only one that stayed in contact with him?"

Kari walked in behind Ken, looking around the room, obviously searching for T.K. "Uhm…"

Davis narrowed his eyes at her. "Where did you run off to?"

Kari set her bag down on one of the desks near the door, jostling the mouse the screen snapped to life, the digital gate idling, waiting for someone to open it. "I forgot my bag in the classroom." She lied, hoping neither Davis nor Cody had paid any attention earlier. Neither called her on it, giving her a bit of relief.

Yolie looked at Kari confidently. "I'm sure T.K. told you he was coming back. You two are like best friends."

Kari's eyes shifted to the floor. Finally she looked up at the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces. "Oh. Yeah, of course." Smiling forcefully.

T.K. walked back in, not noticing Kari standing off to the side at first. "Sorry. Matt left his apartment key at home this morning, so he's coming to get me so I can let him in." He raised his hand to wave to everyone as a farewell, thinking he could avoid the awkward encounter with Kari, but as he did he stopped, seeing Kari shift uncomfortably in his peripheral vision. "Oh, Kari." He looked at her. She was surprised by the kind smile he gave her. "Hi."

"Hi." She greeted him meekly.

"Anyway." T.K. recovered from the shock of finding Kari back so soon and waved goodbye. "I'll see you guys on Monday."

Ken walked over to him. "We're going to the digital world, aren't you going with us?"

"Huh?" T.K. stuttered. "N-no. Like I was saying earlier. I still have a lot of unpacking to do and now Matt needs me to be his back up adult."

Ken laughed. "Well I'll text you later. It'd be nice to hang out in person for once. Texting and emails aren't quite the same."

T.K. nodded. "Definitely. See ya!"

#

The gate to the digital world chirped loudly as they appeared in front of their digimon partners.

Each greeted their respective partners and then the others cheerily, happy to see their friends back again. Ever since they'd defeated MaloMyotismon they'd stayed in the digital world, never knowing when the gates could close.

Gatomon immediately noticed Kari's aura—she wasn't in her usual good mood. "What's the matter Kari?"

Kari forced a smile on her face and shook her head. "Nothing."

Gatomon was obviously not fooled by her façade but let it slide. "If you say so."

Davis knelt down next to Veemon, patting his friend on the head. "Hey, after we leave today can you get a hold of Patamon?"

Veemon tilted his head to the side, his lisp as strong as it always had been. "Yeah, sure. What's up?"

Yolie clasped her hands together excitedly. "T.K.'s back! The whole team will finally be back together."

Ken pursed his lips thoughtfully. "T.K. said he had a lot on his plate with senior year and joining the basketball team. So he may not be able to come here with us as often as we'd like."

Cody and Yolie both looked disappointed by Ken's response. Cody shrugged. "Still, he'll be around at least sometimes."

Davis nodded. "Yeah!"

#

Matt pulled up to a stop light, only a couple blocks from his and T.K.'s new apartment. "So…" he glanced at his brother in the passenger seat. "Gonna tell me what that was all about?"

T.K. shrugged. "I just needed a ride home is all."

Matt narrowed his eyes at his brother, but held his tongue as he continued up the street. "Well, it wasn't too far out of my way. Whatcha want for dinner?"

T.K. shifted, obvious appreciation for the subject change in his tone. "Hmm. We haven't gone shopping for real food, so pizza again?"

Matt laughed. "You say that like we're gonna do that often."

T.K. rolled his eyes at his brother. "I'd rather not become obese because you're too lazy to cook."

Matt eyed his brother—this week had been the first he'd seen his brother since he left for Hokkaido with their mom. "Okay. Fine."

T.K. shrugged. "Between your job and the band I doubt we'll have a ton of dinners together anyway."

Matt pulled into the small janky parking lot next to their four story apartment building. "Hey, that's not fair. I can make time—"

T.K. interrupted Matt abruptly. "It's fine. We'll still get to see each other more than when we were kids. I'll be eighteen in a few months anyway. We're adults now."

Matt pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow at his little brother. "I don't see it."

T.K. gave Matt an unamused glare. "Ha ha."

Matt laughed. "Eh. I'm just teasing you. You're probably twice as mature as I was at your age."

"Only twice as much?" T.K. smirked as he climbed out of car, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. "Anyway. Thanks for coming to get me."

Matt looked at his brother with concern. "Yeah. No problem."

#

"Well, that was fun." Davis stated sarcastically.

Yolie rolled her eyes. "Why? Because we had a peaceful patrol for once?"

Ken laughed. "I kind of enjoyed the peace and quiet."

Cody agreed. "No kidding."

Gatomon looked up at the silent Kari, obviously lost in thought, barely paying attention to the conversation. "Hey Kari. Can we talk before you go?"

Kari looked as if she'd snapped out of a trance. "Hmm. Sure."

Yolie opened the gate with her digivice and turned to the others. "I gotta get going. I have to drop Ken off at his apartment and I have a shift at the convenient store in an hour."

Cody nodded. "I've got dojo clean up tonight too."

Davis shrugged. "I'll wait for you Kari."

She nodded. "Thanks." She waved goodbye to the others and followed Gatomon into the forest.

"Okay." Her partner finally stopped.

Kari stopped, placing her right hand on her left arm, looking at the forest ground timidly. "What did you want to talk about?"

"T.K. for starters." Gatomon eyed her friend sadly. "You told me after he left something happened. But you never told me what. Now that he's back…" she encouraged.

Kari sighed and leaned against one of the trees. Nodding reluctantly, she began to explain what happened the day before T.K. left.

* * *

Thanks for reading!

Again if you want to check out my original books series, you can look into it by googling _**The Silent Ballad Series**_.


	3. Confession - Ch 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or have any association with those who do._

Having a lot of fun writing this. Just what I needed to get over my current bout of writer's block.

* * *

 _Flash Back_

T.K. stared out of the computer lab window solemnly, everyone had headed home after a long trying venture to the digital world. All saying their goodbyes to T.K. with promises of keeping in touch and hopeful visits through the years.

Kari was staring at him as she picked up her bag, seeing the disappointment in his eyes. "Hey, sorry your last day with us didn't go so well."

T.K. sighed. "Eh. I just would have liked to spend more time with everyone. Getting split up like that was frustrating."

She smiled with a shrug. "Yeah."

T.K. straightened and reached down to grab his own backpack. "Ready?"

She nodded. "So, what day are you leaving again?" She felt anxious as she spoke the words, having been avoiding the topic since T.K. had announced it several weeks before. Ignoring it hadn't made it go away.

He stopped and stared at her, something obviously on his mind. He looked hesitant as he finally made eye contact with Kari. "I have the option to stay here with my dad if I really wanted."

She was surprised, he'd never mentioned that as an option before. "Oh?" she encouraged. Kari's heart beat quickened.

T.K. gauged her reaction carefully. "Would you want me to stay?"

Kari answered without thinking. "Of course!"

T.K. narrowed his eyes and looked away, she saw the hesitation in his expression, his mouth open slightly.

"T.K.?" she asked, frowning at the difficulty he was having talking to her. It'd always been so easy for them to talk to each other and now it seemed impossible.

T.K. inhaled slowly, regaining full eye contact with her—a look of determination in his eyes. "I…I…" he let out a deep breath, frustrated with himself. "I really care about you."

"I care about you too—"

"Not…" T.K. struggled with his words, looking at her apologetically for interrupting her. "Listen. I don't mean it like that. I mean I _like_ you. I've liked you for a long time."

Kari stared at T.K. slightly confused. "What are you saying all of a sudden?" a laugh hiding her shaking lips.

"I'm saying I want more." T.K. let his pack slide off his shoulder. "Do you understand?"

Kari laughed lightly. "Don't joke."

"I'm not." He gave her a desperate look. "Tell me to stay."

Kari didn't know what to do. She'd never really thought about being with T.K.—she did care about him a lot. She enjoyed everything about him. They clicked just right. He was attractive and kind. She couldn't have really thought of anyone else who she got along with that well. But…

"T.K. you're moving to Hokkaido with your mom in a matter of days." Kari frowned at her friend. "Why now…?"

T.K. inhaled, straightening he pulled his pack back over his shoulder. "You're not going to tell me to stay." He didn't mean it as a question. An expression of hurt flickered across his face before he smiled at her.

"T.K. stop." She panicked. She hadn't _tried_ to have feelings for him. She didn't know what she felt, put on the spot she didn't have an answer.

"Hey. It's fine." He walked up to her, smiling brightly. "I know it might be awkward knowing this now, I haven't said anything until now because I was afraid it would hurt our relationship…" he trailed off "…but don't let it. Please. I really value our friendship. I just…"

Kari felt tears stinging at her eyes. Did she feel the same as him? A part of her felt like she did, but was it a fleeting moment of being flattered?

"I just felt like I would regret not at least giving it a shot. You know?" he looked sadly at her as she avoided his eye contact.

Kari closed her eyes and nodded, unable to form words, her mind still whirling with conflicting thoughts. T.K. was one of her best friends. She hated when he told her he was leaving. It made her sick and irritable for weeks, even still she hated the idea. But did she have the right to ask him to stay, not knowing what she really felt for him?

Finally she snapped out of it, hearing T.K. slide the door to the classroom open. She whirled around at the sound, seeing him staring at her sadly. "…I'm sorry." was all she could muster. Sorry for what? Not feeling the same? Not asking him to stay? Not just explaining her uncertainty? Not knowing what she felt?

T.K. simply smiled at her weakly. "Don't be."

#

Kari looked up at Gatomon sadly as she finished her story. She could see the surprise in her large cat eyes, taking in everything she had explained. "I…" Kari covered her face with her hands and knelt down on her knees, weakly.

Gatomon ran to her side and grasped her arm caringly. "But, Kari, you've always cared about him."

She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. "That night I laid awake in bed all night trying to decide if the feelings I had for T.K. were real or if I was just feeling guilty."

Gatomon tilted her head to the side. "Did you ever decide?"

Kari regained her composure. "I decided I'd talk to T.K.. Tell him what was going through my mind." She pursed her lips out of frustration. "T.K. and his mom had left the next morning."

Gatomon nodded in realization. " _That's_ why you didn't come the digital world that next day?"

Kari sighed frustrated with herself, wiping the tears from her eyes angrily. "I realized then, once he was gone, once it was too late. I loved him."

Gatomon gave Kari a sympathetic grin. "I could have told you that."

Kari nodded, picking herself up off the ground. "He tried emailing me a month later. He sounded like his old self. He acted like that entire conversation had never even happened." Kari laughed. "I was afraid if I responded like nothing happened, we were both silently agreeing to forget it happened." Kari closed her eyes. "And I didn't know how to tell him I wanted to be with him after hurting him like I did… after letting him go. So I never emailed him back."

Gatomon gave Kari a confused expression. "You never told him how you felt?"

She shook her head. "I couldn't."

Gatomon frowned at her partner, obviously disgruntled by her cowardice. "You need to tell—"

"Heeey!" Davis' voice hollered from close by. "You guys alright in there?"

Gatomon wrinkled her nose. "Can't a cat have her privacy once in a while?"

Kari turned and took the opportunity to escape the barrage of frustration Gatomon was about to unleash—she already felt it, she didn't need her partner to reiterate it all for her.

#

T.K. stared angrily at the homework he needed to catch up on by Monday to be on the same lesson as everyone else. "I'm gonna be stuck in this apartment until Monday morning trying to get all this done."

Matt laughed at him as the doorbell rang, delivering them their much anticipated dinner. "That's what happens when you wait two weeks into the school year to transfer."

T.K. glared at Matt's back as he walked around the corner to answer the door. "Wasn't really that simple."

Matt walked back into the living room and plopped the pizza box on the table in front of the couch. "I know. Moving to France wasn't really an option for you."

T.K. tossed his homework onto the end table and eagerly opened the pizza box, using his fingers as a makeshift plate for his piece he carefully took a large bite. "Mmmmm…" he leaned back and gave Matt a thumbs up. "Nevermind. Let's live off pizza."

Matt raised an eyebrow at T.K. "Have you eaten anything today? Jeez."

T.K. shook his head, swallowing he shrugged. "I didn't have time today before I went to the school."

"What about the cafeteria at lunch?" Matt frowned.

T.K.'s eyes shifted away from Matt and he stuffed another large bite into his mouth. Standing he walked into the kitchen. "Want something to drink?"

"T.K." Matt said his name exasperatedly. "What's the matter? I thought you wanted to come back to Odaiba to be with your friends and now you're just avoiding them."

T.K. walked back in with two glasses of water. "No. It's not like that."

"Then tell me what it's like." He gave T.K. a skeptical glance as he leaned over to grab another piece of pizza.

T.K. took a drink of water and leaned back, grabbing his notebook and pencil from the end table. "Kari."

Matt stopped at the name and slowly turned to T.K. "Don't tell me."

T.K. didn't look up from his notebook as he responded. "The day before I left."

"You _told_ her?" Matt gaped.

T.K. glared at Matt's surprised expression. "Don't give me that look."

Matt shrugged and turned away. "I just didn't think you…" a knock on the door interrupted their conversation. "Oh, it's Sora. She always knocks instead of ringing the bell so I know it's her."

T.K. shrugged. "I'll go to my room." He grabbed his books and shoved them under his arm, snagging another piece of pizza he walked towards his room.

"T.K.!" Sora greeted with her normally sweet tone. "How are you?"

T.K. smiled. "Good. You?"

Sora nodded. "Oh yeah. Busy with college."

Matt beamed with pride. "Sora's at the top of her class."

T.K. laughed. "Well at least one of you are doing well in school."

"Hey!" Matt growled.

Sora laughed. "It's good to have you back. We've missed you."

T.K. shoved his door open with his foot. "I've missed everyone too. I'll see you later. Homework." He turned and walked into his room, pressing the door closed with his elbow.

T.K. sighed with relief. Sora had saved him from an awkward conversation with Matt—for the time being anyway.

* * *

Thanks for reading. If anyone is concerned I won't be taking this to the Digital World. Don't worry. We'll get there.

Thank you for the reviews, they are appreciated.

If you'd like to support me and my original work, you can do so by checking out my book series by googling _**The Silent Ballad Series**_.


	4. Homework - Ch 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or have any association with those who do.

Please enjoy.

* * *

T.K. rolled over in bed, staring angrily at his clock. Waking up an hour before he set his alarm for. Running his hands through his hair he rested his arm over his eyes, moaning slightly at the mixture of exhaustion and inability to sleep. Finally he tossed his covers off and slipped out of bed, dressing quickly in jeans and a red long sleeve tee. Slipping out of his room he clicked the thermostat up, hearing the burst of air coming up through the vents. Walking quietly into the kitchen he started a pot of coffee—not 100% it would help—more out of a habit than anything now.

Matt's bedroom door opened. T.K. turned around to greet his brother, surprised to hear him up this early. "Hey Maaa…" T.K. stopped as he saw Sora slowly closing Matt's door.

"Shhh." She motioned for him to keep quiet.

T.K. laughed quietly. "I knew he couldn't have possibly been getting up this early on a Saturday." Sora walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table, T.K. followed suit. "You guys are pretty serious then."

Sora blushed. "Yeah, I guess so."

T.K. wasn't sure what to say. He'd been so out of touch with everyone and while things were the same, everything seemed to have changed. "Sorry."

Sora frowned. "Sorry?"

T.K. shrugged. "I'm kind of out of the loop."

Sora leaned back in her chair. "You know we all tried to stay in contact with you."

T.K. gave her a single nod. "Yeah."

Sora glanced back towards Matt's door. "Matt mentioned something to me last night." T.K. cringed, looking up at Sora timidly. "You and Kari?"

T.K. laughed. "Yeah, no." he pushed himself up, the coffee maker beeping to indicate it was done. Pouring two cups of coffee he remained silent.

Sora placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her palms. "I assume she turned you down then."

T.K. sighed giving her a look. "Persistent." He set the sugar and creamer on the table before handing Sora her cup with a spoon.

"Matt's worried about you." She added a couple spoonful's of sugar and began stirring her coffee.

T.K. shrugged. "Nothing to worry about. It'll be alright with time."

"You don't have to act so adult about it, you know." Sora smiled sadly at T.K.

He laughed. "I'm avoiding all my friends because of it. I don't think that's being very adult about it."

Sora's expression grew with concern. "So you _are_ avoiding everyone. Is that why you never really responded to our emails or phone calls?"

T.K. narrowed his eyes. "I have a weeks' worth of homework to do before Sunday night. It was good talking to you."

Sora sighed. "Yeah. I need to head out too. But I'm always available if you need someone to talk to." She smiled at him encouragingly.

He nodded. "Thanks Sora."

#

T.K. glared at the papers strewn across his desk. Glancing at the clock on his nightstand every few minutes with irritation. He glanced up at his computer screen, several tabs open of research, music playing on his phone which was plugged in by his bed.

Leaning back in his chair he glanced around the room, still a few boxes with his belongings piled against the far wall. He'd unpacked all the essentials already. Letting out a deep breath T.K. went back to his homework. "Focus…" he grumbled under his breath.

Suddenly his phone rang—almost too quickly he bounded from his homework—he half expected it be Matt, who had left earlier for band practice, but was surprised to see Ken's name on the screen. "Hello?"

"Hey." Ken seemed surprised T.K. answered. "I have the afternoon free if you were interested in hanging out today."

T.K. hesitated, looking at the desk drowning in papers and books. "Eh…"

"What's the matter?" Ken heard the reluctance in his voice.

T.K. sat down on his bed. "I have mounds, _literal_ mounds, of homework to do before Monday."

Ken laughed. "Well I can help you with that if you want. It'll be easier than when I helped you with your homework over skype before."

"I can do it myself. I don't want to make you spend your free time doing highschool homework."

"It's really no big deal. Davis was asking for help too earlier, I can just help you both." Ken chuckled. "Want to meet at my place or could we come to your new apartment?"

T.K. looked at the clock. "It doesn't really matter. Matt's gone though so I'll have to walk—"

"We'll come by your place. No worries. Text me your address." Ken chimed. "See you in about an hour?"

T.K. sighed. "Sure."

"See ya!" Ken hung up abruptly.

T.K. stared at his phone slightly dismayed. "Right…" Ken was one thing—the only person he kept in touch with aside from his brother. But Davis as well? T.K. walked over to his dresser and pulled out a black tee, putting it on over his red sweater.

#

Right on time the doorbell rang. Matt answered the door haphazardly, just barely opening the door enough for them to see him. "Come in!" he hollered as he hopped back up the hall trying to get his shoes on.

"I thought T.K. said you weren't home." Ken asked slightly confused.

Matt grabbed his jacket and phone off the kitchen table. "Just got out of my band practice a bit ago, came back real quick to change so I can go meet with Sora for lunch."

Ken and Davis walked in, both in casual jeans and tees. Davis slumped his heavy backpack off his shoulder and started dragging it. "Why can't they invent lighter books?"

Matt laughed. "Wait til you get to college!" Ken only nodded with an exasperated look on his face.

Davis shuddered. "No thank you."

Matt pulled his jacket on and walked past the boys. "T.K.'s in his room." He pointed across the living room. "Have fun guys."

Ken shrugged and they made their way to the closed door. Ken knocked lightly before grabbing the handle. "We're coming in."

"Yeah." T.K. yelled as they slipped inside. T.K. was lying on his bed now, having tired of the desk. "Hey." His expression was dark.

Davis eyed the mountain of papers and books T.K. had towering around him. "Dude…"

T.K. eyed Davis for a few seconds. He seemed mostly the same and judging by his greeting the day before Kari must not have told him that he'd confessed to her. It made it a bit easier having Davis around knowing he wouldn't have to deal with his animosity—not yet anyway.

Ken moved some papers to the side and sat down next to T.K. "They gave you this much to go over in two days?"

T.K. nodded. "It's not that I can't do it, it's just the overwhelming feeling it's giving me is making me feel kind of like I'm drowning."

Davis plopped on the floor. "I bet we have some of the same stuff to go over. Let's find that first!"

T.K. shrugged. "That'll work."

#

 _Two Hours Later_

They had all migrated to the floor, encasing it in both Davis' and T.K.'s homework, books and scratch paper. T.K. was pleased by the amount of work they'd accomplished, however Ken's attention ended up being more focused on Davis rather than himself, but going over things in a more organized manner created a faster pace for him to work.

"Thanks…" he spoke softly. Both boys looked up from Davis' textbook.

"No problem." Ken smiled encouragingly.

Davis gave T.K. a thoughtful look before turning back to his book. "So what about this one." He pointed at the formula.

Ken was about to answer him when his cell vibrated from its perched spot on T.K.'s bed. Reaching up he grabbed the phone, glancing at the name on the front he stood and excused himself from the room, closing the door behind him.

T.K. looked away from the door and noticed Davis' staring at him. "What?"

Davis leaned back. "So."

T.K. suddenly felt awkward. They'd never been very close before. At times T.K. was pretty certain Davis didn't consider him a friend. "What Davis?"

"Okay, so I guess I just want to get this out of the way." He gave T.K. an apologetic look before shifting his eyes to the floor. "We both know I'm a pretty terrible friend, but that's no excuse. I mean…"

T.K. looked baffled. "What are you…?"

"I'm just trying to apologize for not keeping in touch." He could tell Davis was uncomfortable.

T.K. laughed. "It's not really a big deal…"

Davis looked at T.K. with frustration. "Why? Because I wasn't the only one?"

T.K. frowned. "Huh?"

Davis shrugged. "Cody and Yolie said they got busy and didn't really keep in touch either. I thought it was kind of weird…"

T.K. pursed his lips and closed his eyes, a look of guilt crossing his expression. Finally he looked back up at the quizzical Davis. "They said that?"

He nodded. "Yeah. But that's no excuse for me. I should have at least dropped an email or two. What I'm trying to say is I hope I didn't screw up our friendship."

T.K. smiled lightly. "Davis, don't worry about it. We're good."

Davis looked a little relieved. "Cool." He smiled. "So you joined the basketball team?"

T.K. nodded. "I only got in because my coach from my school in Hokkaido gave me high recommendations. May not be too late for a scholarship or two if I do well enough." He paused. "I didn't see your name on the roster…"

Davis shrugged. "I dropped it when I started getting scholarship offers from my soccer games. I decided to focus on that instead—besides I like soccer way more."

Ken walked back in suddenly. "I just got a text from Yolie while I was on the phone."

T.K. shook his head. "I don't think she has my number." He said honestly.

Davis reached into his pocket. "Mines been on silent. Oh jeez." He stood. "I guess your place is closet Ken."

Ken nodded. "Yeah."

T.K. stood, slightly alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"Hawkmon and Gatomon sent out an S.O.S." Ken finally addressed him, realizing he didn't know what they were talking about.

T.K. reached over and took his computer out of sleep mode, quickly closing all his windows and clicking on a familiar icon. "Did the text say what sector?"

Davis narrowed his eyes at T.K.. "You had that on your computer this whole time?"

T.K. hesitated. "Yeah."

Ken saved T.K. by interrupting their conversation. "This is what Yolie sent me. They want to meet us here."

"They?" Davis asked, seemingly forgetting his previous inquiry.

Ken looked at Davis. "Kari and Yolie were already together. They're already in the digital world."

T.K. hadn't used the gate program in a long time, over a year it seemed. "I think I got it." He glanced back at Ken looking for confirmation.

Ken eyed the location he'd clicked on and nodded. "That's it. Let's go."

Davis and Ken pulled out their digivices, looking to see T.K. had remained still. "I think it's still in a box." He gestured towards Ken's digivice.

Davis and Ken glanced at each other. Ken stepped back. "I'll help T.K. find it, go back them up." Davis didn't hesitate and lifted his digivice, fading into T.K.'s computer.

Ken turned and stared at the boxes against the far end of the room. "Any idea which—"

"Just go." T.K. shrugged.

"T.K." Ken shook his head. "Talk to me."

T.K. almost laughed. "Can we not?"

Ken placed his digivice back into his pocket and leaned against the wall, folding his arms he glared at T.K. "What's going on with you? When you said you were coming back you made it sound like you wanted to be a part of the group again."

T.K. took a step backwards, sitting on the edge of his bed. "I do. I just need things to be normal a little longer before I jump back in."

Ken sighed. "You can't avoid Kari forever. It's awkward, but you knew that was a chance."

T.K. pursed his lips and nodded. Slightly regretful he'd confided in Ken through their various emails. "You've all been fine without me so far."

Ken closed his eyes with frustration, biting back a snide remark. "Are you even listening to yourself?"

T.K. pushed himself up and walked over to his nightstand, pulling out his digivice. " _If_ you need me, I'll come." He set the digivice down on the desk.

Ken glared at T.K. "That's how it's going to be then?"

T.K. shifted his gaze to the floor. "For now."

Ken let out a frustrated laugh. "How are things ever going to get back to normal if you refuse to let them be normal?"

T.K. exhaled deeply, looking up at Ken. "Fine."

Ken smiled lightly. "I can't know what you're going through, T.K., but you can't lock yourself away like you were doing in Hokkaido. You can't avoid us. You can't run away from us. You chose to come back, so man up."

T.K. stood and grabbed his digivice. "I know that."

"Davis is going to tell the others you had a digiport available all this time. You know that, right?"

T.K. glared at Ken with irritation. "Maybe he'll forget about it."

Ken laughed. "Davis has probably changed the least out of all of us, but he's not as airheaded as he used to be."

"Great…" T.K. grumbled under his breath. Holding up his digivice he felt that immersive feeling he'd almost forgot. Feeling himself flying through the digital rift into a world he both loved and hated.

* * *

As usual, thank you for reading. I appreciate any feedback.

If you're interested in my original work, please feel free to google _**The Silent Ballad Series**_ to learn more.


	5. Unprompted - Ch 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Digmon or am associated with anyone who does.  
I looked up Digimon who were not in Adventure or 02, since I want to keep this somewhat interesting (any digimon I use from seasons after that will have no connection to those season.) I honestly haven't watched past season five and I don't remember season five all that well. So if I use Digimon from season five or beyond and misinterpret them, forgive me. I'm honestly not into making up digimon, so if you see a name you don't recognize, look it up.

* * *

T.K. inhaled the familiar scent of the digital world. It wasn't particularly different than the real world, but it was, for T.K., discernable. He glanced around at the open field of tall grass, gripping his digivice tightly in his hand. Anxiety building inside his chest as he finally made eye contact with Ken who was trying to use his digivice to find the others.

"Do we know where to go?" T.K. asked quietly.

Ken nodded pointing toward the east, a forest lay just beyond their small open area filled with tall grass. "They're just over that way—" Just as Ken began to speak a large cloud of dust and debris burst into the air above the tree line.

"Is Patamon even…" he trailed off, just then remembering his partner probably wasn't around.

Ken hesitated, not thinking of this beforehand. "I don't know. Veemon was supposed to get him yesterday after we all went home. But let's hurry." Ken motioned for T.K. to follow as they ran toward the commotion.

As they made their way towards the tree line Wormmon and Patamon came running toward them. Wormmom leapt up into the air, digivolving into Stingmon in a burst of golden light. "We've got to hurry." He scooped Ken up in his arms.

Patamon greeted his partner eagerly. "T.K.!" he flew into T.K arms.

"Hey buddy." T.K. felt some of his anxiety lift. "Ready to digivolve?"

Patamon nodded. "We need to go to the village and make sure everyone is alright."

T.K. glanced up at Ken. "You go help the others."

Ken looked disappointed in T.K. but nodded, "Let's go Stingmon."

T.K. let Patamon fly from his arms, the surge of energy that pulsed through him was exciting, watching Patamon turn into a golden swarm of light and reappearing as Angemon. "Come on, T.K."

#

Kari covered her face with her arms, trying not to inhale the cloud of dust that swarmed around her and Yolie. Davis had shown up just in time, saving both of them from the digimon's attack.

The dust cleared with a wave of energy as X-Veemon and the digimon collided. She peered over at Gatomon and Hawkmon who were lying bruised and beaten against the edge of the clearing—who had managed, as mere champion and rookie, to lure the digimon from the village. "Gatomon, are you alright?" she hollered.

Gatomon nodded. "We're fine." However her tone suggested that, that was not completely true.

Yolie placed her hand on Kari's shoulder, shaking lightly. "That was a close one."

Kari nodded. Finally she gazed up at the digimon floating in the air above them. It was a black and red digimon that reminded Kari of pictures depicted the devil, but in a slightly comical way. Black and red bat like wings spread from his back, his weapon a red triton. Quick and nimble, he was easily stronger than X-Veemon from the looks of it.

Hawkmon cringed as he stood. "He's definitely not champion."

Gatomon wrinkled her nose, "If he is than I resign."

Yolie looked worriedly at the digimon. "Who is he?"

Hawkmon seemed unsure of himself, but spoke up anyway. "There's little information available about him, but he looks like Phelesmon."

Gatomon's eyes widened. "He's one of the fallen angel digimon. It can't be."

Kari watched worriedly as X-Veemon struggled to keep up with the faster digimon. "Where are Ken and Cody?"

Davis suddenly pushed through the thick forest behind Yolie and Kari. "Are you guys okay?"

Kari nodded, picking herself up off the ground. "Barely."

Davis helped Yolie to her feet and watched X-Veemon fight off the unfamiliar digimon. "You can do it buddy!"

Yolie let out a sigh of relief as she looked at her digivice. "Back up is on its way over now."

Davis nodded. "They were right behind me, Wormmon was heading towards the gate, they'll meet up on the way and then we can DNA digivolve."

Gatomon huffed as she made her way towards Kari. "If he is Phelesmon, we're in trouble."

X-Veemon was suddenly caught by one of the mysterious digimon's attacks, sending him flying into the ground. The impact shook the earth, sending everyone to their knees. X-Veemon managed to get back on his feet, missing the follow up attack, the digimon slammed its weapon into the ground where X-Veemon's indent had uprooted the soil. Standing the digimon lifted his hand and pointed the end of the triton toward X-Veemon.

"Just who are you?" X-Veemon growled, readying for the digimon to strike.

The digimon smirked, charging forward. X-Veemon lifted his arms to defend, standing no chance of dodging the rapid movement of his opponent. Just as the digimon was about to collide with X-Veemon, Stingmon came in from the side, zipping through the forest and slamming into the digimon's side, sending him crashing into a cluster of trees.

Stingmon landed next to X-Veemon, not taking his eyes off pile of trees as the digimon stirred beneath the debris. "You look like you could use a hand."

"Ya think?" X-Veemon yelled.

Kari, Davis and Yolie all looked on with relief as Ken stepped out from behind Davis and the others. "DNA digivolve?" he yelled at Davis, who then lifted his digivice into the air to answer Ken.

The two digimon glowed brightly and in a flash became Paildramon, standing at the ready for the digimon as it burst from under the fallen trees, glaring angrily at its new opponent. He didn't speak, only readied for an attack.

Paildramon was on a more even level with this new digimon, however the battle waged on for several minutes, attacks being blasted at one another. Suddenly the digimon took to the air, Paildramon hot on its tail.

Ken looked to Kari and Yolie. "What happened?"

Gatomon answered him meekly. "We were in the village when that digimon came around and started attacking everyone in sight."

Hawkmon nodded. "There was no obvious prompt for the attack from what we witnessed."

Davis looked worriedly. "Did he hurt anyone?"

Gatomon shook her head. "It was all we could do to get him away from the village, we didn't have time to see if anyone was injured."

Davis turned to Ken anxiously. "Someone needs to…" he trailed off as Ken nodded at him.

"T.K. and Patamon headed toward the village. They'll make sure everyone is alright." Ken noticed Kari's expression change at the mention of T.K.

Kari's voice quieted. "He's here?"

"Yeah." He assumed Kari was oblivious to the fact that he knew about what went on between the two. "We were with T.K. when you called us."

Kari nodded slowly. "Oh."

Yolie sighed looking at her phone. "Cody _still_ hasn't gotten back to me."

Davis shrugged. "We got this—" just as Davis spoke Paildramon was knocked back, sliding across the clearing into the already downed cluster of forest.

Ken and Davis yelled out their partner digimon's name as he struggled to his feet. Phelesmon hovering over their group looking down at them lazily. "Not here." His deep voice was cold, uninterested. Suddenly the digimon vanished before their eyes.

Paildramon de-digivolved in a shimmering gold burst, leaving the two digimon in their rookie forms.

Veemon ran over to Davis. "He's gone." Hawkmon and Gatomon nodded in agreement.

Ken picked Wormmon up in his arms. "We should go to the village."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they rushed through the forest toward the base of the nearby mountain where a small digimon village stood.

#

T.K. and Angemon had seen to it that everyone was uninjured, seeing that the only harm done was to the buildings, leaving the digimon shaken, but not hurt.

"Angemon, go ahead and de-digivolve." T.K. said as he led his partner to a quiet part of the village, away from the commotion surrounding the destroyed buildings.

Angemon was hesitant. "But T.K., shouldn't we go help the others?"

T.K. shook his head. "They'll be fine."

Angemon de-digivolved to Patamon, looking at T.K. sadly. "What's wrong?"

He shrugged. "Remember why I told you I wasn't going to come to the digital world anymore, when I was moving away?"

Patamon nodded. "You told us all that you weren't going to have a digital gate installed on your computer because you needed to focus on your life."

T.K. nodded. "But I still came. By myself."

Patamon nodded. "For a while." He looked sad.

T.K. gave his friend an apologetic smile. "I told you why I was going to stop coming to the digital world then too, didn't I?"

Patamon huffed. "That was ages ago."

T.K. laughed. "Ages? It sure doesn't feel like it to me." His eyes grew distant. "I'm not ready to be back."

Patamon landed on the ground next to T.K. and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Are you growing out of us?"

T.K. laughed at his digimon's innocent question. "Of course not. But there's no reason for us to really be here. Is there?"

Patamon gave T.K. a thoughtful look. "But what about that attack just now?"

T.K. knelt down to Patamon. "Were there never attacks during the years before we showed up? Or while the gate was closed before we were called back two years later?"

Patamon sighed. "Of course."

"We're not meant to police your world. I don't think so anyway." T.K. stood. "Besides, if we are the others have been doing fine, right?"

Patamon shrugged. "I feel left out though."

T.K. laughed. "Yeah. I feel that way sometimes too."

Patamon flew up into T.K.'s arms. "You've changed. You're still you… but you've grown up."

T.K. smiled lightly. "It happens."

"The others don't seem that different." Patamon acknowledged.

T.K. shrugged. "I'm sure they have. You just don't see change as easily when it's happening gradually around you."

Patamon was the one to shrug this time. "Well, whatever you want to do, T.K., is fine with me. I'm your partner after all."

Just as T.K. opened his mouth to respond he heard a small fuss come from the digimon—the others had returned—just as he figured they would. "Well, Ken will probably get mad at me if I disappear now."

"Hmmm?" Patamon frowned at T.K. "Disappear?"

"Never mind." T.K. sighed and started walking back toward the large group of various digimon who inhabited the decent sized village.

* * *

Sorry it took a while. I was having a hard time deciding what digimon to put in for this part. I should have the next chapter up much sooner.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed.

If you'd like to support me and check out my original content, feel free to google _**The Silent Ballad Series**_.

Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, I appreciate it!


	6. Overwhelming Guilt - Ch 6

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

Longest chapter yet. Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. It feels good to be motivated to write something after a few months of no motivation. Also recently picked up Digimon Cyber Sleuth. If you're into video games and like the RPG style gameplay, you should grab a copy to help support Digimon in the west. It needs it.

And thank you for the reviews!

* * *

Walking around the corner T.K. immediately noticed that both Kari, Yolie and their partners covered in dirt and light bruises. He stopped, inhaling deeply to calm himself, if he made a big deal of Kari's injuries that would only make it awkward for her. _She's fine…she's fine_. He kept repeating in his mind.

Ken finally spotted him, waving. "There you are."

"Hm?" T.K. was thankful for the distraction. "Oh yeah. Looks like everyone is fine, just damage to some of the buildings." Several of the digimon of the village greeted the children as they arrived. T.K. could only assume this was where they probably met up regularly.

Davis knelt down next to some in-training digimon and patted them on the head. "You guys ok?" They bounced and greeted Davis happily. He responded with his signature cheesy grin and a thumbs up. "Good!"

Davis had changed too—T.K. could see he'd calmed quite a bit since he had last seen him. That and the conversation they were having before being called to the digital world convinced him Davis had matured. Drawing Ken's attention T.K. inquired lightly. "What happened?"

Ken looked over at the group. "We're not sure ourselves."

Kari and Yolie shook their heads. "No idea." They said almost in unison—T.K. had a feeling they'd grown even closer over the last year and a half.

Davis rubbed the back of his head. "Nothing we can do about it now, right?"

T.K. struggled with his words as he looked Kari up and down. "Are you…" he stammered. "Are you guys alright?"He glanced at them all briefly, his gaze moving back to Kari with worry.

Yolie nodded. "Mostly just dirt, nothing serious. Right?" she looked to Kari who nodded in response, eyeing T.K. carefully, trying to gauge him.

He smiled his usual smile. "That's a relief."

Yolie crossed her arms, eyeing the half demolished cottage next to them. "We can come back Monday and help with repairs."

Kari nodded, thankful for the subject change. "That sounds like a good plan."

Davis walked over to T.K. and Ken. "I need to get back and finish my homework." T.K. closed his eyes in defeat, having blissfully forgotten about his homework until right then.

"We can always work on it tomorrow." Ken noted.

Davis shook his head. "I can't tomorrow. You forget already?" he looked disappointed.

Ken started to argue with Davis and then his eyes widened. "Oh."

T.K. looked at them curiously. "There a problem with finishing tomorrow?"

Davis nodded. "I have a game tomorrow afternoon. So I'll be at the field practicing all morning until right before the game."

Ken turned to T.K. "And I'll be there helping him, so I won't be able to help yo—"

T.K. lifted his hands in the air. "Don't worry about me, please. I got it."

Davis looked over the group. "So we'll adjourn for now and meet back up here Monday?" Kari, Yolie and Ken nodded in agreement.

Davis smiled. "That settles it."

Ken looked at T.K. "You have basketball practice after school Monday."

Everyone looked at T.K. as he had remained silent. "I'll come by afterwards and help finish up." He quickly spoke up, uncomfortable with the attention.

Yolie's phone suddenly beeped in her pocket. Taking it out she let out a frustrated sigh. "Cody just now got our message. I'll tell him never mind." Her eyebrow twitched with irritation as she clicked away at her phone screen.

Ken sighed. "He's basically running the dojo on the weekends."

"Yeah. I know." Yolie began. "But I'm juggling school and work and—"

Ken raised his hands defensively, interrupting her. "I know."

Kari let out a deep breath, kneeling down to Gatomon. "You okay?"

Gatomon smiled. "Just a few bruises. No big deal."

"If you're sure." Kari stood and looked to Yolie. "Ready?"

Yolie turned from Hawkmon and nodded. "Yeah. Let's get going."

After a brief round of goodbyes, the boys watched the girls head to the digiport that they had come through just on the edge of the village, before heading back through the forest toward the one they had used.

#

T.K., Ken and Davis pulled through the gate, landing somewhat gracefully on the floor, barely avoiding scattering the mounds of paperwork strewn all over the room.

Davis didn't bother standing, instead crawled back over to where he had been sitting before. "Okay, that was a nice break." There was a little sarcasm in his tone.

Ken sighed. "The fact that he just disappeared like that still has me on edge."

Davis nodded, not taking his eyes from the math textbook. "He'll probably be back."

T.K. looked at them puzzled, not sure if he could rightfully ask for details since he'd tried so hard to omit going. "Is everything alright?"

Ken looked at T.K. for a moment before he voluntarily began explaining everything he'd seen. It took him a few minutes, with Davis chiming in here and there before he finished.

T.K. looked thoughtfully at the floor, focusing on the grain of the carpet. "His name was Phelesmon?" T.K. finally looked up at Ken, who nodded.

Davis set his paperwork down and looked up. "Gatomon said something about him being a fallen angel digimon."

The words made T.K. anxious. Showing up out of nowhere and leaving even though he clearly had the upper hand. "So did Gatomon say anything else about it?"

Davis and Ken shook their heads. Davis shrugged. "Didn't seem like she knew much else. Rumors maybe?"

T.K. sighed picking up his pencil he glanced back at his homework, trying to focus on what he needed to get done. After a minute of staring blankly at the paper, not even paying attention to the writing, he looked up to find Ken staring at him worriedly. "What?"

Ken shrugged. "You've been staring at that pre-test paper upside down for over a minute."

T.K. looked at the paper and smiled embarrassedly. "Ahh…" he rubbed the back of his head. "I was just thinking, anyone else hungry?"

Davis almost immediately answered, throwing his hands in the air. " _Yes!_ " Ken and T.K. smiled at Davis' predictable reaction.

T.K. pushed himself up, grabbing his phone. "Pizza?"

Davis nodded greedily, clasping his hands together. "Sounds amazing."

Ken shrugged. "Sure."

#

Davis leaned back against the wall, rubbing his stomach. "Thanks T.K." he grinned contently.

T.K. nodded as he shoved the nearly empty pizza box across the floor, making room for him to start doing his homework again.

Davis slowly shoved his work back into his backpack, haphazardly. "Well it's getting late and I basically got it all done. Thanks Ken."

Ken nodded. "You know I'm always here to help."

Davis made a cheesy grin and closed his eyes. "I'm counting on that next year."

Ken let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm going to drag you through college too, aren't I?"

Davis got up on his knees, slinging his pack over his shoulder. "Hey, I'm getting my scholarships from sports."

T.K. shot Davis a looked. "Don't be dumb."

Davis shrugged. "I got it. I got it." He stood and walked to T.K.'s door. "You coming to my game tomorrow?"

T.K. sighed looking how much homework was still strewn around the floor. "If I can." He waved his hand over the paperwork.

"Hope you can. See you in the morning Ken." Davis waved and closed the door behind him as he left.

Ken looked at T.K. and then reached down for a text book. "All right then…"

"You can go home too." T.K. slide the papers and books away from himself and leaned back against his bed, stretching his arms.

"You know I live on my own now, I don't have to go yet." Ken frowned.

T.K. stood up and sat down at his desk. "Honestly my brains are turning to mush and you still have to get up early and help Davis out. He'd get mad at me if you're too tired to give him a challenge tomorrow before the game."

Ken rolled his eyes. "You're upset about something."

T.K.'s expression darkened. "No. I'm just tired and I can finish this tomorrow."

Ken looked at the textbook and set it down on T.K.'s bed. "You're just trying to make sure you won't be able to make it to his game tomorrow."

T.K.'s eyes narrowed as he glanced at Ken. "If that was the case I could just lie about it, I don't physically need to put myself behind."

Ken sighed. "Fine. I get it, I'll go." Ken stood up and grabbed his coat. "I'll see you tomorrow."

T.K. frowned. "Maybe."

Ken laughed as he opened T.K.'s door. "I'll see you tomorrow." He repeated.

T.K.'s eyebrow twitched in irritation. "Bye, Ken." Making his voice sound as unenthused as possible.

After hearing the front door close T.K. let out a deep breath and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the desk, wrapping his hands around the back of his head. He had a huge headache—too many things running through his mind. Anxiety making his chest hurt.

After a few minutes he lifted his head and woke his computer from sleep mode. Opening his web browser he checked his email slowly. After deleting some junk mail and marking everything else 'read' in his inbox he moved his mouse to the edge of the screen, leaving the cursor lingering on a folder in his email—"Friends"

After staring at it helplessly for a few minutes he finally clicked on it. Several unread emails from Cody, Yolie and some of the older digidestined cluttered the screen. Scrolling to the very bottom he found the two emails he'd actually opened and replied to when he first left. He clicked on the very first one from Cody, reading it silently he let the guilt agitate his already anxious mood.

...

 **From:** Cody Hida  
 **To:** T.K. Takaishi  
 **Subject:** Hey!

Hey T.K.,

Hope you're having a good time in Hokkaido. I hear it's pretty cold up there this time of the year. It's been a couple weeks since you left. Are you settling in well? We all miss you already. Nothing too exciting happening here. Keep in touch. I'd like to hear all about the region once you get acquainted, take pictures!

Talk to you later,

Cody

...

T.K. clicked on the next button which showed his brief reply and Cody's reply to that.

...

 **From:** T.K. Takaishi  
 **To:** Cody Hida  
 **Subject:** Re: Hey!

Hey Cody,

Things are fine. It's different here. It'll take some getting used to. I'll see what I can do about the pictures. Looks like school is going to have me pretty busy.

T.K.

 **From:** Cody Hida  
 **To:** T.K. Takaishi  
 **Subject:** Re: Re: Hey!

Hey T.K.,

Good to hear. I bet it'll take you a while to get used to everything. And don't worry about the pictures. I looked into the school you're going to, sounds like it's a pretty good one. I don't doubt you'll be busy. Don't lose touch though!

Talk to you later,

Cody

...

T.K. hesitated on the next button, knowing it was the only from Yolie.

...

 **From:** Yolie Inoue  
 **To:** T.K. Takaishi  
 **Subject:** What's Up!

Hey there!

So I'm dying to find out what it's like in Hokkaido. I've already talked to everyone about coming and seeing you soon. We totally miss you already, it's only been a few weeks and it just doesn't feel right without you. Patamon really misses you too. I'm still not sure why you didn't want to keep coming to the digital world after you moved. I heard Izzy offer to give you the program to install later if you wanted and you still didn't take it. Weird. Oh well, who am I to judge. So let me know when a good time to come see you is and I'll make it happen!

See ya!

Yolie

...

T.K. turned away from his computer, remember the response like he'd written it yesterday. He frowned closing his eyes, trying to make the sick feeling in his stomach go away. Finally he looked back up and clicked on the next icon.

...

 **From:** T.K. Takaishi  
 **To:** Yolie Inoue  
 **Subject:** Re: What's Up!

Hey Yolie,

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you in a few days. I've been pretty busy. School here is a bit different than down there. I don't honestly know when a good time would be, so for now I guess we'll postpone? Sorry.

T.K.

 **From:** Yolie Inoue  
 **To:** T.K. Takaishi  
 **Subject:** Re: Re: What's Up!

Hey,

Yeah, no problem. I just thought you'd like us to come see you. It's all good. Maybe during summer time? Or I guess you can come and see us then too huh… Anyway. Just keep in touch okay? I understand how busy life can get. I'm starting senior year and all. It's pretty crazy. So how is everything up there? Are you liking the feel of the city? How are your new classmates? I bet they pale in comparison to us! I'm joking. Tell your mom I said hi!

See ya!

Yolie

...

T.K. sighed, clicking lightly on the next icon again, seeing the first unread email from Cody. It was basically the same as the first, emailed a month after T.K. had not responded. The next was Yolie again. Hers was a bit more straight forward, asking why he hadn't responded yet. T.K. finally stopped after glancing at the next six emails, his hands shaking as they rested on his mouse. Each email grew more desperate. Each email welled guilt up inside of him. He hadn't meant to hurt them. He hadn't intended to make them feel like they were the ones who had done anything to him.

T.K. ran his fingers through his hair resting his forehead on his palm. "Yeah, it was _you_ who didn't keep in touch with me. Sure." The guilt of not responding to their emails was only multiplied by their blatant lies.

Finally T.K. closed the browser. He felt ill. Swallowing hard stood up and grabbed the pizza box from his floor, taking it out to the kitchen he heard Matt come in through the front. "Hey! I'm back!"

T.K. looked over at Matt as he kicked off his shoes and tossed his jacket on the couch messily. "Hey." He was surprised by the weak tone in his voice.

Matt raised an eyebrow at him. "You order another pizza?"

T.K. tossed the box on the table. "It was quick and cheap. We were hungry."

Matt opened the box and glanced at the two pieces that were left. "I hope Davis is the reason most of this is gone."

T.K. shrugged. "We all split it pretty evenly."

Matt reached in and grabbed one of the pieces, not caring that it was cold. "Whatever. I guess Chinese for dinner tonight instead then?"

T.K. shook his head. "I'm not hungry. Get whatever you want."

"Jeez, what's got you all pissy?" Matt plopped down on the couch, picking up the remote.

"Nothing." T.K. walked toward his room, ready to be alone again.

Matt turned the T.V. on, leaving it at the blaring volume they'd had it on during the movie he and Sora had watched the night before. "Where you going?"

T.K. stopped and turned, not saying a word he ran to the bathroom and without even shutting the door vomited into the toilet. His chest hurt, his mind was a mess.

"T.K.!" Matt hollered, looking towards the bathroom door. "You okay?"

T.K. coughed. "Too much pizza." He murmured.

Matt wrinkled his nose and proceeded to throw his half eaten piece of pizza in the trash. "Not cool little bro."

T.K. picked himself up off the floor and pushed the door closed, turning on the faucet he splashed water over his face. He forced his mind clear and took a couple steps backwards until his back was pressed against the wall, sliding to the floor weakly. "Damn it…" he whispered, burying his face in his hands.

* * *

Hope it wasn't too long and you enjoyed it.

I'll have another chapter up soon I think.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate reviews of course. And again thank you to everyone who already has.

If you're interested in supporting me and my original work you can find more information by googling _**The Silent Ballad Series**_.


	7. What's Normal? - Ch 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

Thanks to everyone who has favorited, followed and reviewed. Instant feedback is a real motivator. :) Hope you enjoy. It went on a bit longer than I wanted, but sometimes that's not in the writers control.

* * *

It was raining outside as T.K. buried himself under his blankets. Matt knocked on his door, after a few seconds of struggling he managed to turn the handle despite his hands being full. "Okay. Mom's not here to baby you, so I guess that's my job now." He set a cup of soup on T.K.'s nightstand, reaching out a glass of water in his other hand waiting for T.K. to gratefully take it.

"Go away." T.K. grumbled, not moving from his shelter.

"You only threw up once. Give me a break already." Matt sat the glass of water down next to the soup. "You gotta try and eat. It's already noon."

T.K. peered out of his comforter and glared at Matt. "Go away."

"You just stuffed yourself full of pizza two nights in a row. All that grease probably just didn't settle." He sighed giving T.K. a sympathetic smile. "Up!" he raised his hands in the air like he would raise the blankets up off of T.K. like magic.

"I'll get up in a minute. I still have to finish my homework before tomorrow anyway." He covered his face back up with his blanket.

"You and that homework." Matt looked at the floor where T.K. had left it all strewn about from the night before. Kneeling down he glanced at the textbooks. "I can help you finish if you'll come out of your cave." Matt piled the paperwork and books into his arms and carried them into the living room, unloading it all on the coffee table.

"Bring it back." T.K. hollered from under his covers.

"Come and get it." Matt lured.

"I'll just tell my teacher you ate my homework." T.K. rolled over in his bed, listening to the rain tap on the glass of his window.

"I don't think they'll take that as a legitimate excuse." Matt appeared back in his doorway.

T.K. sat up, tossing the blankets back, his mussed, wavy hair sticking up in awkward spots. "Homeroom is Mrs. Akawa. I'm sure _she'll_ accept the excuse." There was a sly grin on his face—T.K. knew she was Matt's homeroom teacher when he was going to high school.

Matt's face dropped. "You think you're so smart."

T.K. inhaled deeply. Matt's unintentional distraction helped a lot. "I'm getting up. Coffee?" he grimaced at the soup Matt undoubtedly picked up from the convenience store.

Matt shrugged. "Whatever gets you out of bed." He turned and walked into the kitchen.

#

It was three hours later when T.K. finally closed his text books and shoved them across the floor toward his room. "Thank you!" he clasped his hands together and bowed lightly to Matt.

"Any time." Matt stood, stretching. "And look at the time. Want a ride?"

T.K. glanced up at Matt confused. "I'm not going anywhere—"

T.K. grimaced as Matt faced him with a mischievous grin. "Ken told me about Davis' game today."

"It's been raining." T.K. pointed to the window, just then noticing the glimmer of sunlight peeking through the parting clouds. His expression turned to an irritated disappointment.

Matt laughed. "Ken told me I wasn't allowed to let you make excuses."

"That's why you helped me do my homework?" T.K. gave Matt an exasperated glare. "I don't feel good. Let it go."

Matt looked at T.K. worriedly, contemplating giving up on forcing his brother to go. But the moment passed and Matt walked toward his room. "Go get dressed. I'll drive you down to the soccer field in a half hour."

"No." T.K. huffed, standing up he walked into his room, grabbing his textbooks as he did, closing the door behind him.

#

T.K. stared out the car window unamused. Listening to the radio he refused to talk to Matt who had almost physically dragged him from their apartment. "It'll be fun." Matt said, just loud enough for T.K. to hear over the music.

After a ten minute drive they pulled up to the soccer field where a decent sized crowd had formed. It was still overcast and a bit on the cold side, so everyone was dressed in warmer clothing. T.K. pulled his grey hood up and grabbed his phone from the middle console of the car. "I'm calling you when the game is almost over."

Matt smiled brightly at his irritated brother. "See you later."

T.K. stepped out onto the curb and watched Matt drive away with a proud grin on his face. T.K. had to laugh inside at his brother's attempt. Though it was less distracting to be forced to go and spend time with the friends that most likely resented him for his actions during the past year. Even if he justified his actions at the time, now it only felt like an excuse to run away from his pain.

T.K. had just reached the bottom of bleachers when he heard Ken call out his name. He saw him standing on the sidelines near where Davis and their school team were getting ready for the game to start. T.K. buried his hands inside his hoodie pockets and walked over to him.

"I was afraid Matt was going to give up." Ken gave T.K. a sly look.

T.K. frowned at Ken. "That's low, even for you."

"I knew it was the only way." Ken shrugged.

Davis waved at Ken and T.K. when he spotted them, but was called over to his coach before he could say anything.

T.K. looked out over the familiar field and smiled lightly. "It's funny."

Ken tilted his head. "What is?"

"How far we've come since that first game Davis played against you, all those years ago."

Ken closed his eyes, the days of his evil reign still stung when brought up. T.K. knew it, but right then his irritability allowed him not to care so much. "Everything has changed since then."

T.K. nodded, not looking up at Ken. "Yeah. Everything has changed."

#

Kari sat about halfway up in the bleachers toward the left hand side of the field. Yolie and Cody hadn't shown up yet and Ken was still down with Davis and the rest of the team. Placing her elbows on her knees she propped her head up with her palms, bored. Her pale yellow hoodie hid her blue tee shirt, feeling a chill she looked down at her black skinny jeans that were far too thin for the temperature. Her hair was up in a messy bun, lose strands hung down around her face, the moisture in the air causing them to curl ever so lightly.

Finally she looked down at the field, trying to spot Davis. He was lost in the group of players that began huddling around their coach. The game was about to start. Scanning across the sidelines Kari saw Ken standing at the bottom talking to someone. She narrowed her eyes at the hooded person, figuring Ken may have ran into one of his college friends. He was a bit taller than Ken. She started to glance away when the boy turned his head to Ken, revealing T.K.'s profile.

She stopped and stared at him for several minutes, watching his movements and gauging his body language as he spoke to Ken. She had been so focused on the situation surrounding him that she hadn't taken any time to really absorb the changes to his appearance. He was much taller than her now. His blond hair, which was poking out from behind the grey hood on his jacket, was longer and wavier than before. His face had matured a lot. She stared without conscience, knowing no one was around to catch her. She saw his expression darken as he said something to Ken and then turned away. She noted the sadness in his vibrant blue eyes.

Sitting up straight she nodded with determination and stood, making her way down the partially crowded bleachers. Stepping down behind T.K. she reached up and grabbed his shoulder, "Hey." She tried to greet him with a smile.

T.K. stiffened at the sound of her voice. Swallowing hard he turned, plastering what he could only assume was a fake looking smile on his face. "Hey." He greeted her their eyes only briefly making contact before he looked up at Ken.

Ken glanced at them both and then looked up at the bleachers. "Where are Yolie and Cody?"

Kari shrugged. "Not here yet."

Ken wrinkled his nose. "I expected Cody to bail, but not Yolie."

T.K. shifted away from Kari, putting his hands back in his pockets. "Hopefully nothing happened."

Kari looked at T.K. a valiant effort to be normal in her heart. "I'm sure they're alright."

Ken pulled out his phone, an annoyed look crossed over his expression. "I didn't feel my phone go off…" he raised an eyebrow in irritation and clicked on his screen, putting the phone up to his ear. "Hey, what happened?" T.K. and Kari watched Ken curiously, hearing Yolie's high pitched voice yelling over the phone in a rage. Ken even had to pull the phone away from his ear for a minute waiting for her to get done. "I didn't hear my phone go off. So does that mean you're not coming?"

T.K. couldn't help the smile that crossed his face as Ken rolled his eyes and pulled the phone away from his face, even further this time. He could clearly hear Yolie demanding him to get his ass over to her apartment and pick her and Cody up. "Something wrong with her car again?"

Ken nodded silently waiting for the yelling to subside. "I'm on my way. You better be at the door waiting for me." He hung up before the yelling could continue.

T.K. gave Ken a sly grin. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Haha." Ken glared at T.K. "I'll be right back. I apparently have to go pick them up because Yolie's car won't start."

Kari pulled her phone out of her back pocket and saw three texts from Yolie that she too hadn't noticed. "Oops." She laughed lightly. "Like twenty minutes ago?"

Ken sighed. "Save us seats I guess."

T.K. started to walk with Ken when he turned and gave him a knowing look. "You can stay and keep Kari company. Besides if none of us are here when the game starts Davis won't let us hear the end of it."

T.K. narrowed his eyes at Ken and shrugged, turning to Kari he smiled lightly. "You lead the way."

Kari nodded. Determination filling her with confidence. She could do this. "I was sitting up there." She pointed to the empty row toward the middle of the left side bleachers.

Ken waved and dashed off toward the parking lot and T.K. gestured for Kari to go first. He still wasn't feeling well, but he could put on an act for her sake.

Kari laughed lightly at Ken. "I don't understand why they aren't together."

T.K. shrugged as he followed her up the bleachers. "Circumstances."

Kari glanced back at him, seeing him looking off to the side away from her, his expression dark. She grimaced and faced forward taking a step up she missed the bench, the tip of her shoe catching, causing her to fall forward. Kari closed her eyes, readying for the impact as she flung her hands up to try and catch herself, seeing the bleachers coming at her face rapidly.

Hearing a loud clap against the flimsy steel of the bleachers she realized she had stopped falling. T.K.'s was standing beside her now, his arm around her waist and his other hand gripping her shoulder tightly.

"You okay?" he asked worriedly, helping her straighten.

She smiled, impressed with his reflexes. "Yeah." Her heart beat quickened. This was the first time they'd really touched since he'd left.

It took T.K. a few seconds to realize he still had his arms around her, his concern for her making him forget about the awkwardness—it almost felt like he could breathe easy again. But it quickly faded as he straightened, shifting away from her dropping his hands to his sides. "That was close." He smiled forcefully, not even caring if it looked fake.

She nodded, her smile fading as she saw him avert his gaze down toward the field. "Thank you."

They continued up a few more benches and sat down next to one another. The whistle was blown and each team formed a group around their coaches, signally the game was about to begin.

As the groups dispersed toward the field Davis glanced up at them, stopping he raised an eyebrow at T.K. and Kari, giving them a quizzical look. T.K. was confused at first and then he mouthed Ken's name and glanced around, shrugging his shoulders.

T.K. shrugged, not sure how to explain he'd had to go pick up Yolie and Cody. Davis wrinkled his nose and turned back to the field.

Kari, acting as normal as possible spoke up first. "He always whines that he doesn't play as good when we're not here to cheer him on."

T.K. chuckled lightly. "When _you're_ not here you mean."

Kari shrugged. "He's not as bad as he used to be. I mean, he still likes me, but he doesn't ask me out anymore and he's not as boisterous about his feelings."

T.K. expression hardened. "Learning some tact, are we?" he spoke in a low whisper, but he knew Kari could still hear him. It didn't matter, right? She already knew how he felt, and she had already turned him down.

"T.K." she frowned lightly at him, her lips quivering. She knew he still had feelings for her, he said so himself, but she couldn't bring herself to just tell him how she truly felt. Not after everything she had done. Not after literally ignoring his messages for over a year.

T.K.'s eyes widened as he watched the game start, Davis was quick and took control right away. The game had only just started and Davis was already taking control of the field. After a few minutes he noted. "He's gotten a lot better."

Kari sighed inwardly, clasping her hands together in her lap to keep them from shaking. "Yeah. He's improved a lot over the last year. Those college scholarships were more of a motivation for him than any of us thought." She allowed the subject change.

"He's almost better than Tai." T.K. acknowledged.

Cody laughed from beside T.K., taking him off guard. "Let's not get too carried away."

"Oh, don't worry. I'd never tell _him_ that." T.K. laughed. "His ego would probably implode."

Yolie nodded in agreement, plopping down next to Cody. "Please, we can't handle his ego as it is."

T.K. felt eased by their friendliness, but he wondered how they could act like they were. He knew they had to be mad and hurt.

Kari smiled at their friends. "You guys made it."

Yolie crossed her arms. "We would have been here a lot earlier if someone had of read their messages." She glanced at Ken as he sat down next to her. "If anyone had of read their messages." She sent a glare Kari's direction.

Kari smiled brightly. "Sorry!" she laughed.

T.K. inhaled deeply trying to keep himself calm—he hadn't heard that laugh in so long. That genuine laugh that filled him with so much warmth. He looked at her and stared for a moment, quickly averting his gaze as she glanced at him.

Ken sighed loudly. "Can we just watch the game?"

Cody looked at T.K. "I didn't know you were coming too."

T.K. smiled hesitantly. "Yeah, I wasn't sure I was coming until the last minute either." He shot a look Ken's direction but no one caught it as the first score was made and the crowd cheered.

#

The overcast sky gave everything a bleak look, but it didn't stop the crowd from cheering and hollering the whole time, bringing a bit of energy to the lackluster day. The game was close but Davis pulled off an impressive move at the very end, scoring the team the winning goal.

Davis was too bombarded by his teammates for any of them to get a congratulations in, but he saw them by the sidelines and gave them a thumbs up before being hauled away to his victory party.

Cody walked up next to T.K. as he began texting Matt for a ride home. "That was pretty good huh?" he smiled at T.K. warmly.

T.K. hesitated, the emails he'd read ringing in his mind. "Oh. Yeah. It was a good game. So, how have things been for you guys?"

Cody shrugged. "Oh you know, helping grandpa out with the dojo and school mostly."

Yolie gave T.K. a curious look, like she wanted to say something to him. He held his breath waiting for the lecture he deserved but she smiled and nodded at Cody. "I've been good. Working long night shifts at the convenience store and managing my college courses by day."

Kari smiled at him. "Same old, same old."

T.K. nodded, glancing at the vibrating phone in his hand, Matt's name popping up on the screen. "Hang on a sec." he turned away and took a few steps before answering. Hey."

"How'd it go?" Matt asked enthusiastically.

"They won." He shrugged even though Matt couldn't see him.

"So, here's the deal." Matt started. "I'm kind of in the middle of something right now. Can someone else give you a ride home?"

T.K. closed his eyes, fighting the anger rising inside his chest. "You suck."

"Hey now, I—" T.K. hung up on Matt, placing his phone in his pocket.

He turned back around to see Ken had joined the group and walked back over. "I gotta get going." He smiled at everyone.

Yolie frowned. "We're meeting Davis at his party thing. You should come."

"Nah. I really have to…" he trailed off at the look Kari gave him.

"Come on. We haven't seen you in forever." Her voice pleading.

Ken's words from the other night rang in his mind. _"How are things ever going to get back to normal if you refuse to let them be normal?"_

T.K. sighed. "Maybe for a little while then."

Kari smiled at him. "Great." She would do her best to act normal—was this normal? She didn't know anymore.

T.K. hated that he loved her smile so much. It made it hard to be around her, but it made it hard to stay away from her at the same time.

* * *

Well, sorry if that was too drawn out. It was fun to write though. I don't know if the chapters will continue to get longer or not. Maybe let me know if you prefer shorter or longer chapters.

As always, if you're interested in supporting my original work, you can check out my book series by googling **_The Silent Ballad Series_**.


	8. Running Away - Ch 8

I do not own digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

And sorry for the wait. =)

* * *

The after party was incredible crowded and made T.K. feel uncomfortable. He recognized quite a few people, some of who also recognized him in turn and they had brief greetings, but for the most part the pizza place Davis' team decided to have their victory party at was filled to the brim with strangers. Also pizza was the last thing he wanted to see or smell.

"Why are they celebrating so extravagantly again?" T.K. wondered to no one in particular.

Ken laughed at T.K.'s expression. "It's the first game of the school year. The coach always put a big emphasis on starting out strong and promised this if they won today."

T.K. only continued to glare at his surroundings uncomfortably. "That why Davis had you helping him all morning?" he spoke in a low tone, not sure Ken could hear him over the buzzing noise of various conversations happening all throughout the large room.

"Yeah. He was pretty pumped about winning this game." Ken looked at T.K.'s plate, noting his pizza was untouched. "Not hungry?"

T.K. still felt ill—he was beginning to think maybe it wasn't just his guilt churning his stomach anymore. "Not hungry.

Ken frowned. "You sure?"

T.K. grimaced at his piece, looking over at Davis who was jabbering excitedly to Kari about his game. "You want it?" He focused on Davis, making sure not to make eye contact with Kari.

Davis stopped briefly to look at T.K. who was reaching his plate out to him. "Don't mind if I do!" and then continued his rambling, stuffing his face full of pizza.

Ken wrinkled his nose at Davis. "I hate when he talks with his mouth full."

T.K. laughed, resting his elbow on the table, propping his head up up. "He's still Davis after all."

Ken sighed. "Well I'm hitting up the salad bar. Sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Nah." T.K. straightened from his spot and stood to let Ken slide out from behind the large corner booth they had snagged when they first arrived.

"I'll be back." Ken slipped into the crowd disappearing. T.K. grabbed his grey hoodie off the seat and slipped it on, checking his phone, seeing he'd stay an appropriate hour and waved to everyone. Half of them didn't even notice. Cody gave him a quizzical look and then waved, giving him a smile. T.K. slipped into the crowd and out into the crisp evening air. Unfortunately the pizza place had been located a ten minute drive further from his and Matt's apartment, meaning he was going to have to walk twice as far. Sliding his hands into his pockets he started down the street, cursing Matt all the while.

#

He had almost made it halfway home when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Reluctantly pulling his hands from the warmth of his jacket pockets he slid phone out of his back pocket and saw Ken was trying to call him.

T.K. clicked the ignore option on the screen. He knew he was going to be mad he left without saying anything, but he was sure Ken wouldn't have let him go and would have offered him an enticing ride home to keep him there longer.

As T.K. reached to put his phone back in his pocket it started to vibrate again. He glanced at it, ready to hit the ignore again but stopped, slowing down T.K. found himself standing still under a street light staring at Kari's name. He almost let it go to voicemail before he involuntarily answered it. "Hello?" his voice was almost a whisper.

"Don't ignore my calls!" Ken's voice hissed over the other line. T.K. expression went from anxious to irritated. "I knew you'd answer this number though." Ken's voice calmed.

"I hate you." T.K. responded calmly, starting to walk again.

"No you don't. Now, why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" Ken asked, his voice sounding a bit concerned.

"I honestly didn't want to stay and I knew you would probably talk me into it. It's easier to be mean to you over the phone than in person." T.K. smirked.

"Ha. Ha." Ken let out an exasperated breath. "Where are you? I'll come pick you up and take you home."

T.K. shrugged. "I'm almost home. Don't worry about it."

Ken was silent for a minute, T.K. could hear the party still going on in the background. "You need to decide."

T.K. frowned. "Decide what? I already said I'm almost ho—"

"Whether your friendships are worth losing because you can't get over Kari." Ken's voice was low.

T.K. grimaced. "It's not just that."

"Then what?" Ken snapped.

"I burned some bridges and I don't know how to rebuild them." T.K.'s pace slowed.

Ken almost laughed. "You think you've burnt bridges? Are you completely ignoring the fact everyone is trying their hardest to welcome you back with open arms." T.K. didn't respond. His chest started to hurt as Ken continued to berate him. "The fact that you only stayed in contact with me and Matt over the last year, is that it? Yeah, I talked with Matt for quite a while this morning by the way, between the two of us we figured that out pretty easily."

T.K. pulled the phone away from his ear, his finger hovering over the end button. "It's not that simple." He breathed.

Ken's voice was barely audible from the distance at which T.K. held his phone. "This isn't about them, it's that you can't forgive yourself, right?"

T.K. pressed the end button, his hands shaking—he blamed the cold as he turned his phone off and shoved it back into his pocket. Quickening his pace he continued his long walk home.

#

The bell rang loudly, signaling T.K.'s first day back at his old high school had ended. He had turned in all his homework—the surprise on his teachers faces as he handed in the completed homework irritated him, feeling that had given him way too much intentionally. He smiled and made it sound like it wasn't a big deal.

Walking out of his last class T.K. didn't notice as he almost ran into Davis and Kari in the hall. "Oh. Sorry." He took a step back.

Davis smiled. "Hey, how was your first day back?"

T.K. shrugged. It was almost irritating that he was getting along better with Davis than he was with any of his other friends. "Not bad. Got all my homework done."

"Eh. I got most of mine done, but I got a pass because we had the game yesterday." Davis shrugged. "You heading to basketball practice?"

T.K. nodded, finally looking over at Kari, who was staring at him, a hint of worry on her expression. "Yeah. I'll come by the computer lab afterwards and see if you guys are still there."

"Cool. See ya later!" Davis walked passed him.

Kari didn't move, keeping T.K. trapped in the doorway of his classroom. "Uhm."

T.K. looked to the floor. "Hey. Sorry."

Kari frowned. "Sorry?"

"Ken's been kind of forcing me into a lot of stuff. I'll—" T.K. was cut off by Kari.

"They're both our friends T.K. So am I. Okay?" she looked at him worriedly.

T.K. nodded. "Yeah."

"See you later?" She asked pointedly.

T.K. nodded again. "Yeah." She gave him an encouraging smile and walked down the hall after Davis.

#

T.K. loved the feeling of playing basketball. It was distracting and made him feel _good_ , unlike a lot of aspects of his daily life. He hadn't really gotten to play like this in months. The loud thud of the basketball hitting he gymnasium floor echoed in his mind and drowned out all his negative thoughts. He knew some of the team already from before he moved, but some were new. He kind of got a sick satisfaction out of their expressions as they watched him dominate the court.

T.K. scored his fifth ball in the last fifteen minutes, while effectively assisting several of his team members with theirs in between. The coach blew his whistle, signaling that practice was over for the day. "That's it. Hit the showers!"

"Damn T.K.!" One of the other seniors on the team leaned forward on his knees out of breath. "I didn't think you could have gotten any better than last time I saw you, and here you proved me wrong."

T.K. smiled modestly. "I just really love basketball."

T.K.'s coach laughed. "We can all see that. It's good to have you on our team."

T.K. nodded to his coach. He was new, at least to T.K., apparently the coach that was working at the school before when T.K. was a student there had retired at the end of the last school year. "I'll do my best sir."

#

T.K. sat down on the bench in front of his gym locker, fully dressed in his street clothes, he still had a towel over his head—his hair was longer and took longer to dry, it was irritating but he didn't mind it enough to think about cutting it, yet. Leaning forward, he pressed his elbows into his knees and ran his hands over his face tiredly.

"Hey man." T.K. looked up to see a couple of the seniors, including the one who had addressed him earlier looking at him as they swung their duffle bags over their shoulders. "You want to come grab a bite to eat before heading home?"

T.K. hesitated. "Uhm…" This was his chance. New friends. New pass times. He could fade into the background and leave all his guilt behind without ever having to face it head on, phase himself out of the digidestined group. "No. I got plans. Maybe next time?"

They boys looked disappointed but quickly got over it, waving casually as they began to talk amongst themselves, leaving T.K. alone in the locker room.

T.K. inhaled deeply. His head hurt. Everything seemed to hurt since he got back from Hokkaido. He grimaced. It'd started hurting long before that, it was just easier to ignore when he wasn't being constantly confronted with the things that made it hurt.

Standing he opened his locker and pulled out his backpack, heading slowly up to the computer lab. After taking as much time as he could making his way to the third floor, he slowly opened the classroom door, finding it completely empty—glancing over he confirmed by the familiar gate program that everyone was still inside the digital world.

He signed and plopped down on the chair in front of the computer, staring lazily at the gate, his digivice was somewhere inside his backpack. He made no effort to dig for it as he contemplated even going.

Finally he turned and started rummaging for his digivice. Finding the white and green device he stood and slid his backpack over the back of the chair. He stared at the screen some more. "Stop running away." He spoke to himself between clenched teeth, angry with himself for being such a coward.

Raising the digivice to the screen he felt himself being pulled in. The sensation of being pulled between worlds was never something he thought he'd get used to. At least the transition was easier now than it had been the first couple of times they'd gone, back when he was a little kid.

Inside he found himself at the gate Yolie and Kari had used the on Saturday, finding himself practically inside the village. There was a small commotion coming from the wrecked buildings as his friends and the digimon of the village worked together to put the finishing touches on the patched up buildings.

"There!" Davis exclaimed proudly. His repairs were fairly discernible compared to the others for their haphazard look. Yolie and Ken just shook their heads at him as they stepped back to admire their hard work.

"Sorry I'm late." T.K. spoke up as he walked around the corner.

Patamon the first to greet him. "You came!" he seemed surprised.

Kari gave him a quick smile and turned to Gatomon. "What do you think?"

Gatomon shrugged. "It's better than a whole in the wall I guess."

Ken sighed. "It's no professional job, but it'll do."

Wormmon shrugged. "I'll take it."

T.K. walked up to everyone. "Sorry I didn't make it in time to help."

Davis raised his hands in the air. "Eh. Whatcha gonna do? You couldn't skip practice."

T.K. sighed. "Yeah."

Ken looked at him curiously. "How did it go?" He could tell Ken was still pissed from the night before, but wasn't going to say anything in front of the others.

T.K.'s eyes brightened at the mention of his practice. "It felt amazing to be back in the game. I hadn't really played since the end of the last school year."

Kari noted the relaxed expression that cast over T.K.'s face—just then realizing how tense he had been every time she'd seen him since returning. That was the real T.K., the one she knew so well. Those smiles he'd been flashing at her looked pale in comparison to the one on his face now. The familiar smile she had taken for granted before.

"I'll have to come and watch you guys at your next game." Kari spoke lightly. It made her heart hurt to see T.K.'s expression fade and the fake smile return at her injection.

"That'd be great." He felt his teeth unintentionally clench.

Davis let out a loud yawn. "When is your next game anyway?"

T.K. had to stop and think. "Oh. Maybe next Friday?"

Davis narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. I think that sounds right."

Kari frowned. "Should we postpone our usual trip to the digital world then?"

T.K. felt his chest tighten. "No. Don't change your plans on my account."

Yolie shrugged. "What about a Saturday trip instead?"

T.K. didn't want the attention. He didn't want the guilt to infiltrate the one thing that actually made him relax. "Honestly, this game probably won't be worth watching. I just joined so I'll most likely be on the bench for this game."

Ken saw T.K.'s anxiety and took pity on him. "Well I'm sure after you're more acquainted with the team and have a few more practices you'll be one of the main players. We'll start coming then." T.K. shot Ken a grateful look, hearing everyone else agree without much fuss.

Cody looked down at his watch. "I have to get going guys."

Davis and Yolie nodded, both relaying an excuse why they had to get home too. Ken and Kari silently agreed as everyone started walking toward the gate, saying their goodbyes to their partners and the various digimon in the village.

Ken looked back to see T.K. had not moved. "You coming?"

T.K. shook his head. "I'm going to stay a while."

Ken hesitated. "I can too."

"Nah. I want to catch up with Patamon a bit." T.K. glanced to his partner who was floating in the air beside him.

Kari glanced back and shot Gatomon a look before lifting her digivice to the gate. "See you guys later then."

Ken watched as Kari evaporated into the screen. Leaving him and T.K. alone. "Can we talk a minute?"

T.K. frowned. "Can we talk later?"

Ken gave him a disappointed look. "Don't be like that. I'm not mad, I'm just—"

T.K. shook his head, a laugh threatening to escape his lips. "You're pissed. I can see it in your eyes. Let it go for today, alright? We'll go grab coffee later and you can lecture me all you want."

"Lecture?" Patamon wondered aloud.

Ken sighed. "Whatever." Turning without another word he reached up his digivice and disappeared into the screen.

"T.K.?" Patamon looked at him worriedly.

T.K. ignored Patamon and all the other partner digimon who had witnessed their conversation and started walking toward the edge of the village. "Let's go."

* * *

I'm contemplating which direction to take the story from here. I have two options I'm deliberating. So it may be a little while before I post again. But don't worry. I will post again =)

That said, if you would like to check out my original work, please google _**The Silent Ballad Series**_!


	9. The Gate - Ch 9

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

Here's another chapter. I'm pretty certain I know which direction I'm going to take this now, so chapters should be coming out a little more frequently. *crosses fingers*

Anyway, please enjoy.

* * *

Kari watched the monitor from the doorway of the classroom, seeing Ken appearing shortly after her. He skipped a few steps before catching his balance and avoided falling to the floor—something easier to do when coming through the portal alone.

Ken looked up, noticing Kari immediately. He gave her a questioning look and tilted his head at her. "Hm?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, looking to the floor. "Nevermind." She smiled and turned, starting to walk out of the room.

Ken sighed, grabbing his bag from the desk. Closing the portal on the computer out of habit, he hollered after her. "What did you need?"

Kari stopped, almost out of sight of the classroom, turning around to look at Ken as he walked into the hall. "Uhm…"

He was trying not to be irritated with Kari, he knew it wasn't her fault. "You worried about him?"

She stared at him as he walked up to her. "No. I was just…" she couldn't think of an excuse.

Ken frowned at her. "Is everything alright between the two of you?" he decided to play dumb a little longer, not letting on he knew about T.K.'s confession and Kari's rejection.

"Yeah." She forced a smile onto her face. "I guess it's just weird having him back."

Ken gave her a sympathetic grin. "I don't know if I'd call it weird."

Kari stared at Ken unsure how to respond. "Well…"

"I have to get going. See you in a few days." Ken allowed her an escape, clearly seeing her struggling.

"Mmm." She nodded and smiled a little more genuinely, watching Ken walk past her and down the stairs. She took a step back and leaned against the wall, staring up helplessly at the ceiling.

#

T.K. and Patamon reached the edge of the forest surrounding the village, silently walking through the digital world. It wasn't until almost an hour later that T.K. stopped and looked around at their surroundings, rolling hills and swaying grass surrounded them.

"Sorry." He spoke finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Patamon nodded, not sure if he should ask the questions on his mind. "Are you alright T.K.?"

T.K. shook his head. "I keep trying to convince myself I am."

Patamon landed on his shoulder and looked out over the view ahead of them. "You know what?"

"Hm?" T.K. narrowed his eyes and looked at the ground.

"I think you need to be honest with yourself more often." Patamon gave his simple but needed advice.

T.K. smiled briefly, nodding. "It hurts though."

Patamon looked at T.K. sadly. "But will the pain go away if you ignore it?"

"Maybe if I wait long enough." He shrugged and knelt down to the ground, playing with a tall blade of grass between his fingers.

"How long is enough?" Patamon leapt down to the ground, almost being engulfed by the grass.

T.K. shrugged again, sighing. "A very long time. And I think in order for that to work, I'd have to leave for good."

Patamon's eyes shook with the threat of tears. "Leave for good?"

T.K. looked away from his partner. "I'm not going anywhere Patamon."

"But…" Patamon was confused.

T.K. shifted onto the ground and laid back, sprawling out, staring at the sky. "Ken was right. I need to make up my mind."

Patamon touched T.K.'s hand. "I'm confused, T.K."

T.K. nodded. "I hurt my friends when I left."

Patamon frowned. "Hurt them?"

T.K. pushed himself up and looked at Patamon. "I hurt you too."

"No you didn't." Patamon smiled encouragingly. "See, I'm fine!" he held his little hands up in the air.

T.K. smiled. "I abandoned you."

Patamon tilted his head to the side lightly. "You moved away."

"And chose not to come back here anymore."

"Because of Kari."

"No." T.K. shook his head, guilt on his face. "I chose not to come to the digital world before I even decided to confess my feelings to Kari. That… that was a stupid split second decision."

"So what? I'm supposed to be mad at you?" Patamon frowned.

T.K. felt his chest tighten at Patamon's words. "Aren't you?"

Patamon's expression softened. "Nope."

T.K. gave Patamon a skeptical glance. "You're my best friend and I just up decided never to come and see you again."

Patamon almost laughed. "T.K., we're best friends even if we never see each other again."

T.K. pursed his lips, tears stinging at his eyes. "I don't deserve you."

Patamon shrugged and smiled slyly. "I know."

"Still. I hurt Yolie, Cody and a lot of my other friends."

Patamon sighed. "I bet they aren't mad at you either."

"You're different Patamon." T.K.'s hands curled into fists at his sides.

"Then talk to them. Tell them you're sorry." Patamon suggested.

T.K. closed his eyes, the anxiety making his head throb. "Yeah." It was the only way to make this feeling stop. "You're right."

Patamon smiled and jumped into T.K.'s lap. "Smile T.K.!"

T.K. smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Thanks Patamon."

#

Kari laid on her bed, her arm lying over her face to hide the tears that crept from her eyes. Careful to hide the tears streaming down the sides of her face in case her mother decided to omit knocking before coming in, as mothers generally did.

She felt ill. All she wanted to do was go back in time and handle the entire situation differently. But it was too late and she had handle things poorly and would now have to face the consequences of her actions.

A knock on her door made her stiffen. "Honey, dinner is ready."

"'Kay." Kari muttered, grateful to hear her mother's footsteps fade away from her door.

Rolling onto her side she wiped the tears from her face gingerly to avoid making her eyes any more swollen than they already were. She fanned her face for a few seconds and glanced in the mirror—her nose was still red, but she thought she looked normal. Nothing her parents would notice, and if they did they'd easily buy the allergy card.

Inhaling deeply Kari reached for her door handle, pulling it open she stepped out into the living room, the aroma of food brought back a little of her appetite.

Before she could take another step, however, she froze at her mother's words. "Oh Tai, I'm glad you could make it for dinner tonight. We've missed you."

"Of course! I may live on campus but that doesn't mean I don't need me some home cooked meals once in a while. Even if they're burned or lack flavor of any kind." Their mother reprimanded Tai for his "joke" before moving away from the doorway, letting him inside.

Kari tried to remain calm, turning toward the door she waved and greeted Tai as cheerfully as possible. "Hey Tai!" She knew their parents wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary with her, but Tai was another story. He knew her too well.

Tai greeted her back casually, yet to notice anything off about his little sister. Eagerly he sat down at the table. Kari slid into the chair next to him, hoping that he wouldn't look directly at her or ask her any questions.

She had successfully avoided talking during dinner as her parents were busy asking Tai about university and how his classes had been going.

As she was almost finished with dinner and about to make up a homework excuse to go hide in her room, Tai addressed her. "So how's my little sister doing? It's been a few weeks since I…" he trailed off seeing the look on her face as she forced a smile.

"Good. They're cramming us with tons of homework! Senior year is no joke; I should have listened to you when you said it wasn't going to be easy."

Tai eyed her for a minute before asking the question she was praying he wouldn't. "Is something wrong?"

Both her parents looked to Kari at this question, all eyes on her. "Not really. Like I said, just a lot of homework, but you warned me, so…" she gave Tai a quick look, pleading for a subject change.

Tai narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Well I _did_ warn you, silly." Her parents looked at them for a moment before going back to finish their plates.

After dinner was cleared from the table and the dishes had been done, by Tai no less to say thanks for the free food, he kindly offered to help Kari with her homework.

She desperately wanted to be left alone and didn't want to talk about what was really bothering her, but Tai was relentless when he knew there was something wrong with her. "Fine." She finally gave into his insisting.

After they were in her room with the door closed Tai crossed his arms and gave her his typical stern big brother look. "Okay, what's really going on?"

Kari knew talking about it was going to make tears come to her eyes and she hated crying in front of others, and even more so, her brother. "It's nothing. You can't do anything about what's bothering me."

"I can listen. Talk to me Kari." Tai sighed, lowered his arms, his stern look fading to worry.

Kari was silent for a few minutes, frowning at the floor. "T.K.'s back in town."

Tai eyed her cautiously. "That's bad? If I recall, you were pretty upset that he left."

Kari shook her head. "You just don't…" she stopped and recollected herself, Tai didn't know anything, it wasn't his fault. "Me and T.K., we…" she pursed her lips. "…I wouldn't call it a fight, but we kind of had a falling out after he left."

"What?" Tai frowned, confused. "How come you never said anything?"

Kari shrugged. "It was personal."

"Personal?" Tai raised an eyebrow at her. "What? Were you two secretly dating and he broke up with you because his mom made him move to Hokkaido or something?" he jested.

Kari shot him a glare before looking back at the floor. "No."

"Then what?" Tai walked over and sat down on her bed next to her. "Did he do something to you?" Kari blinked away tears, turning away from Tai, who grabbed her arm and turned her back around, panic showing in his concerned expression. "Kari, tell me!"

She shook her head. "I was the one…" she buried her face in her hands and leaned into Tai's chest, shaking lightly.

"Whoa…" Tai held Kari gently, pulling her away he made her look into his eyes. "What happened?"

Kari composed herself after a moment and began to tell Tai what had happened the day T.K. had left and how she had handled it afterwards.

She couldn't quite gage Tai's reaction as she told her story, a solemn look on his face as she finished. "So, I don't know what to do."

"You love him?" Tai asked, the words she had just spoke ringing in his ears.

Kari's cheeks suddenly turned bright red, as she hadn't even thought about the fact that she was telling her older brother she loved someone. Instead of speaking she simply nodded yes, looking to the floor with embarrassment.

Tai inhaled and leaned back, propping himself up with his elbows. "Well, I'd be lying if I said I never suspected you two liked one another. But this…" he sighed. "…Are you going to tell him?"

Kari looked down at her hands, her fingers fiddling nervously with the hem of her shirt. "How can I? After what I did, I don't deserve…"

Tai pushed himself up straight. "You shouldn't decide that for him."

"Tai…" Kari was a little surprised by Tai's rational reaction to everything.

"Honestly, I'm kind of mad at both of you for letting it go this far. He thinks you completely rejected him and you're here in love with him but refusing to tell him."

"It's been over a year since this all happened!" Kari yelled out of frustration. "Even if he still has feelings for me, he'll never believe me or trust me."

"You're not even going to try?" Tai asked, genuinely worried.

Kari shook her head. Lowering her face, she closed her eyes. "I can't."

Tai grabbed Kari and hugged her tightly. "Kari…" he whispered her name gently.

She bit her lip, holding back another wave of tears threatening to escape her swollen eyes. "Promise you won't tell anyone."

Tai hesitated but eventually nodded. "I promise. This is your life. But if you need me for anything…" Kari pulled away from Tai and nodded, thanking him.

#

T.K. looked at the setting sun, realized it was getting late and they headed back to the village in a hurry. It didn't take them as long to get back walking at a quicker, steady pace.

Patamon looked up at the evening sky, eerie shadows forming in the forest around them. "This forest gives me the creeps!" he said while clinging to T.K.'s shoulder.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark." T.K. joked.

Patamon made a _humph_ sound and turned his face away from T.K. "And you're not?"

T.K. laughed. "Nope."

Patamon could tell the village was just up ahead and took off into the sky above the trees. "Fine then! Walk the rest of the way by yourself!" He laughed gleefully as he flew off in the rays of the setting sun.

T.K. stopped and placed his hands on his hips, watching Patamon abandon him in the woods. "Me and my big mouth." He muttered, slowing his pace as he continued walking. There was enough light still streaming through the leaves that T.K. could see well enough, however the shadows were growing larger as the seconds passed and the sun began to fade behind the mountains.

After a few minutes of walking T.K. began to feel uneasy, glancing behind himself every few seconds. Noises he'd probably not even have noticed if Patamon was still chirping away on his shoulder, now echoed loudly around him.

He ran his hands through his hair tiredly and ignored everything, refusing to let it get to him. He was too old to be afraid of the dark. Suddenly a cold feeling washed over him, something evil was near. Turning around his eyes darted from shadow to shadow, finding more darkness than light surrounding him now. "Who's there?" he asked firmly.

An odd looking digimon stepped out of the shadows to his left, startling him. It was shrouded in a pale hood and a maroon robe. Nothing but yellow beady eyes shrouded in darkness could be seen of its face. Black hands with sharp claws rested at the digimon's side, long, downcast, pale wings resting on its back.

"I am Wisemon." A wispy male voice sounded from the shadows.

T.K. took a step back. "Wisemon?"

It stared at T.K. for a few long minutes before continuing. "We've been waiting for the gate."

"The gate?" T.K. frowned, confused and honestly afraid. He wished desperately he hadn't teased Patamon earlier.

" _You_ are the gate." He pointed at T.K.

T.K. felt everything change around him. Like time was shifting or stopping around him, stifling, suffocating.

He took another step backwards, his back pressing against a tree, halting him. Wiseman's clawed fingers reaching for his neck. T.K. twisted around and darted back, losing his balance he fell to his knees—The air around him turned cold and crisp. It was dark now, the setting sun seemed to have been gone for some time. He glanced behind himself—nothing. Straightening he started to stand, hearing the buzz of digimon in the village—much closer than it had been before. Patamon's voice hollering his name in the distance.

"T.K. this isn't funny anymore!" Patamon cried.

T.K. pulled himself up, still looking for the strange digimon. "What just happened…?"

* * *

Well, there you go. I hope I've intrigue you a bit. I'm excited to move further along with this plot so be sure to follow this story for regular updates. Also reviews are appreciated. Very motivating for me to keep going. And thank you to everyone who has already reviewed! I'm glad people are enjoying my story so far.

Again, if you like my writing and would like to support me in other ways, please check out my original work by googling _**The Silent Ballad Series**_.


	10. Burden - Ch 10

I do not own Digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

So glad to hear some of you enjoyed the last chapter. I'm eager to get into the thicker plot. There still some casual things to take care of. Sorry if this chapter isn't as exciting. Everything will come in due time.

* * *

Patamon came up behind T.K. suddenly. "There you are!" he yelled with relief, flying over to T.K. hurriedly.

"Patamon." T.K. turned to face his digimon partner.

"Where did you go?" Patamon huffed, anger setting in. "I was terrified!"

T.K. still hadn't recovered from what had just happened. Lost for words all he could do look at Patamon helplessly.

"T.K.?" Patamon's anger began to subside. "Did something happen?"

T.K. hesitated, glancing behind himself again, the black forest around him now being lit by the glow of the moon. "How long…?" his voice felt weak.

"It's been over an hour since I left you in the forest. T.K. the village was literally only a few minutes away. Where were you?"

"I…" T.K. had no way to explain it. "A digimon appeared after you flew off."

"A digimon?" Patamon's concern deepened.

T.K. nodded. "I'm fine. I just don't really know what happened."

"What digimon?" Patamon asked, looking around wearily.

"It said its name was Wisemon." T.K. looked weakly at Patamon.

"I've never heard of that digimon before." Patamon landed on T.K.'s shoulder. "We should tell the others—"

"No. It's fine. I'm fine." T.K. insisted.

"You're not lying to yourself again are you?" Patamon asked wearily.

T.K. had to laugh at Patamon's question, despite the fact that it bore truth. "I don't want to bother anyone, especially now that it's this late." T.K. grabbed his phone from his pocket, seeing it was almost eight at night. "Hopefully Matt's still at band practice or something."

Patamon and T.K. made their way to the village within a minute's time, the villagers greeting T.K. warmly and with worry—Patamon had obviously made a commotion about his disappearance.

Gatomon ran up to them as soon as they were safely inside the village. "Where on earth did you go?"

T.K. frowned, still unsure how to answer this question, he truly hadn't _gone_ anywhere. "I…"

She looked worriedly at him, Veemon and Wormmon following behind her. "You just disappeared. I couldn't find any trace of you T.K."

Veemon frowned, crossing his arms. "We were about to call the others."

T.K. rose his hands in the air. "I'm right here. See? I'm fine."

Gatomon let out a sigh. "Don't scare us like that T.K."

T.K. nodded. "Sorry." Shifting he looked to the gate sitting across the small village. "Is the gate closed?" Gatomon and the others turned to look at the small screen sitting on the ground. Sure enough it was blank.

Veemon scratched his head. "Well that's strange."

Wormmon moaned. "Oh no, Ken…"

T.K. looked at the little green digimon and raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me."

Wormmon nodded. "I bet he closed the gate on accident. He usually leaves last."

T.K. started laughing, not because he found his situation particular funny, but everything was piling up on him, making him slightly hysterical. "Great."

Patamon and the others watched T.K. worriedly as he exhaled deeply, calming himself back down. "T.K.?" Patamon spoke his name softly. "Are you alright?"

T.K. didn't respond, reaching into his back pocket he pulled out his cell, scrolling through his contacts he finally found the number he was looking for. Clicking on the familiar name he waited a second before placing the phone to his ear.

Patamon tilted his head to the side. "You're calling Izzy?"

He nodded silently, hoping this was still a current number for his old friend. After a few too many rings, T.K. was ready to hang up. As he pulled the phone from his face to click the end button he heard that familiar voice ring over the speaker. "Hello?"

T.K. pressed the phone back to his ear. "Hey Izzy."

"It really is you!" Izzy exclaimed. "Sora said you were back in town. How are you?"

"Honestly? Right now I'm kind of in a jam." He just wanted to go home.

"Oh? What's the problem?" Izzy asked curiously.

T.K. sighed and began explaining that Ken had accidentally closed the gate on him at the school. "So, I was wondering if you can remotely open gates? If not the school maybe the gate you installed on my computer at home?"

Izzy was silent for a few minutes, clicking keys could be heard in the background. "No. I can't open gates remotely, however…" he paused. "There! I found your location using your digivice. I'll open that gate on my computer here. At least that way you can get back to the real world."

"Thanks Izzy." T.K. watched as the monitor flickered on, relieving a huge amount of stress off his chest—he had feared the gate had permanently closed—something he feared every time he went through the gate now that the digital world was at peace. He hung up his phone and bid farewell to the digimon, ignoring their unanswered questions and concerned gazes. "I'll see you soon." He waved goodbye and phased through the gate.

Exhausted, T.K. landed in Izzy's living room. Izzy, despite being a full time college student, was living on his own, making a living through a private technology company. Computers and electronics dotted every available surface. "Sorry for the intrusion." T.K. looked up at the red head sheepishly.

"No worries. It's good to see you!" He reached down and helped T.K. to his feet. T.K. noted how he had grown taller than Izzy now.

"How have you been?" T.K. asked, straightening his jacket.

Izzy shrugged. "Not too bad. Staying busy. You?"

"Just started my senior year here in Odiaba. So pretty busy myself." T.K. pulled his phone from his pocket, it was almost eight thirty now. "I'm sorry it's so late."

Izzy waved his hand. "Nah. I usually stay up until midnight or later working these days. Do you need a ride home?"

T.K. hesitated. "Uhm, where exactly am I?" he smiled weakly, realizing he didn't know exactly where Izzy lived.

Izzy explained he was living close to his and Tai's university, so he was about a 20 minute drive from his and Matt's apartment. "So I'm thinking that's a yes to the ride home?"

"That's too much to ask. You've already done enough." T.K. declined Izzy's generous offer.

"But T.K., it'll take you an hour to walk home, if not more. I will not take no for an answer." Izzy insisted.

T.K. was tired and stressed and he still had no clue what happened to him and where all that time had gone. "I owe you."

Izzy smiled. "Don't mention it."

#

T.K. pushed the door to his apartment open, it was now nine. He saw Matt's shoes sitting by the door and knew he was probably in for an earful. Creeping in slowly he saw Matt sitting on the couch watching reruns of old sitcoms.

"And where have you been?" Matt chided.

T.K. inhaled deeply. "The digital world."

"All day?" Matt turned to face him, rephrasing. "All _night_?" glaring at T.K. skeptically.

T.K. didn't want to worry Matt or talk about what happened. He had all the same questions everyone else had, with no answers. "I got stuck."

"Stuck?" Matt raised an eyebrow.

T.K. walked toward the kitchen, realizing how hungry he was. "I stayed behind to talk to Patamon for a bit after everyone else left. Apparently Ken closed the gate behind himself."

"What?" Matt narrowed his eyes angrily. "Not cool."

"I've been gone for over a year. I'm sure it was a habit or something. Anyway…" he rummaged through the nearly bare cupboard.

"How did you get back then?" Matt walked into the kitchen, leaning against the far wall.

"I called Izzy hoping he could remotely open a gate for me."

"Oh." Matt looked at his brother with approval. "Smart."

"Well, he wasn't able to do that, so he opened a gate to his own place." T.K. pulled out a packet of ramen and began boiling some water. "He had to drive me across town to get me home."

Matt's eyes widened. "Oh jeez, T.K., you could have called me. I would have come and got you."

"I was going to walk home, but Izzy wouldn't have it."

"You gotta stop that. You're turning into me when I was all angsty and anti-social, but worse." Matt joked.

T.K. watched his pan of water, willing it to boil. "No way."

Matt sighed. "Well, I'm glad you're all right." He paused. "You _are_ all right, aren't you?"

T.K. nodded without looking up, seeing bubbles start to simmer at the bottom of the pan—just a few more seconds.

"You look stressed." Matt eyed his little brother carefully.

T.K. shook his head. "Long day."

Matt shrugged. "Alright then." He walked out of the kitchen and disappeared into his bedroom.

T.K. started to lose focus as his thoughts went back to that digimon. Gate? What gate? How was he a gate? How had so much time gone by? It had only felt like seconds. His mind whirled and he kept imagining the digimon over and over. What would have happened to him if it had of caught him? What if—

"T.K.!" Matt yanked T.K. away from the stove as the water began boiling over and splash out over the side of the pan. "What are you doing?"

T.K. had been so lost in thought he wasn't even paying attention to the water anymore. "Sorry." He spoke weakly. That was a word he was saying more and more.

"Are you hurt?" Matt inspected his hand, seeing he had successfully saved T.K. from a nasty burn.

"No. I'm fine." More words he was saying too frequently.

Matt turned around and turned the heat down on the water. "Snap out of it. You're scaring me T.K." Matt handed him his pouch of noodles. "You got this?"

T.K. nodded. "Yeah." Taking the package, he started cooking his dinner without further incident.

#

Lying in bed that night T.K. tossed and turned, unable to get any real sleep. That digimon's haunting image plaguing his mind, it's hollow voice echoing in his head over and over.

"Argh!" T.K. threw his blankets off and sat up, the clock read 3:48am. Standing he wiped the sweat from his face and walked over to his computer, the bright screen snapped to life, making him squint. Pulling up his email he started typing a message to Izzy asking him to look up Wisemon on his database. Though if Patamon hadn't recognized the name he wasn't sure Izzy would be able to find much on him.

Leaning back in his chair he ran his hands over his face—the darkness in his room was uncomfortable to say the least, especially now with the contrast of the bright computer screen in the corner. Putting his computer back to sleep T.K. crawled back into bed. He hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep until he heard Matt's voice above him, telling him to wake up.

Glancing at the clock he saw it had only been a couple hours and groaned from exhaustion. "Go away."

"You're going to be late for school." Matt bent down, his hands on his hips. "Hurry up, I got places to be this morning too you know."

"I'm not going." T.K. hissed, rolling away from Matt.

"Are you sick again?" Matt asked worriedly.

"I didn't sleep well. Leave me alone." T.K. grumbled from under the blankets.

"You can't miss school already, you just started back up yesterday. If you're not feeling well by lunch I'll come get you, okay?" Matt started walking out of his room.

T.K. sat up and glared at Matt. "I don't believe you." He grabbed his pillow and threw it as hard as he could toward Matt who quickly used the door as a shield, peeking back in. "I'm worried about you! I'll come this time, I promise!"

"Whatever…" T.K. fell back onto his bed and moaned, covering his face with his arms.

"You have like fifteen minutes to get ready." Matt hollered as he walked away from T.K.'s room.

#

T.K. watched out the car window as the wind picked up and the rain grew heavier. Matt pulled up to the front of the school and T.K. got out without a word, slamming the car door. "Hey, don't take it out on the car!" His brother yelled after him.

T.K. didn't respond, too tired and irritable to care—he was almost to class when he saw Davis and Kari walking together. He slowed his pace so a larger crowd of people would be between them and they'd most likely miss him as he passed by them. He successfully made it to class without being spotted and slid into his seat. Realizing only then that he had left his backpack in the computer lab the day before. "Great…"

He had a hard time concentrating on his classes throughout the day, between being tired and the events from the day before he couldn't have cared less about the math problems on the white board.

Finally, the bell sounded announcing lunch and T.K. didn't hesitate pulling his phone out and clicking on Matt's name. He heard his brother answer, interrupting his greeting. "Come get me." He laid his head down on his desk staring blindly at the wall.

"T.K. what's the matter?" Matt asked softly.

T.K. could hear his band members in the background calling for him to hurry. "I… I don't know. I don't…" he stumbled over his own words sitting up straight he sighed loudly. He was just being a burden. "Nevermind." He hung up the phone and stood, heading to the computer lab to grab his pack before lunch. Matt's name popped back up on the screen but T.K. hit ignore and placed the phone in his pocket.

#

Walking into the cafeteria T.K. was immediately waved over by Davis, who was sitting with both Kari and Cody.

T.K. sighed and waved back, pointing to the line for food. He slowly made his way down, picking up a couple of small items before heading over to the table. "Hey." He greeted.

Davis slid over on the bench, making room for him. T.K. hesitated but sat down, resting his pack by his legs and setting his tray down. "So hey, we were thinking of going to the digital world today. Yolie said she might not be able to make it, but Ken was for it."

T.K. shrugged. "I might be able to. I have homework to catch up on though."

Davis sighed loudly. "What's the deal with you and that homework."

"I didn't bring my backpack home with me last night, so I'll have two days' worth tonight."

Cody looked at him worriedly. "Did you forget it? I thought it was sitting right next to the computer when we came through the gate."

"Uhm, well…" T.K. figured they'd hear about it eventually. "I think Ken closed the gate on me yesterday."

Kari's eyes widened. "What?"

Davis raised an eyebrow at him. "No way."

T.K. shrugged. "It was closed when I got back. I ended up having to call Izzy to get home."

Cody looked thoughtfully at his food before nodding. "He usually does close the gate when we all get back."

T.K. shrugged. "I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. Just out of habit maybe?"

Davis finished the last bite of his sandwich before adding. "Ken wouldn't have done that intentionally."

Kari looked to the side guiltily. "I was talking to Ken when we left, maybe I distracted him."

T.K. smiled at her, a more genuine smile than she'd seen on his face in a long time, at least directed at her. "I'll give him a hard time about it, but I'm not mad. Don't worry."

Kari sighed. "I still feel bad about it."

T.K. shrugged. "It's my fault for staying behind."

Kari frowned. "But still…"

T.K. starting eating his cafeteria food with little enthusiasm. "Things happen." He spoke between bites. "I was out pretty late anyway."

Cody looked at T.K.'s lunch with a frown. "Don't you usually bring a lunch?"

T.K. didn't look up as he responded. "Woke up late today."

Davis was the only one who didn't notice his melancholy attitude. "When's your next practice?"

"Mmm…" T.K. had to think. "Tomorrow after school? I'm pretty sure."

Davis and T.K. ended up having a fairly busy conversation about the current basketball team and the new coach, keeping both Cody and Kari silent through the rest of lunch. With hurried goodbyes they all left the cafeteria for their classes.

#

On the way to their class Davis eyed Kari worriedly, seeing the stress on her expression as she walked beside him, barely paying attention to her surroundings.

"So, is everything alright?" Davis asked casually, drawing her attention away from the floor.

"Uh. Yeah." She smiled, giving him a confused look. "Why?"

"You're quiet around T.K.. It's kind of weird."

Kari gave him an innocent look. "Everything's fine. I guess you of all people would notice though." She had to poke fun at him.

Davis stopped and gave her a look. "I may not be as pushy about it, but I still care about you a lot. You act different when he's around, but not like before, not different in a way that makes me jealous of him, but kind of makes me think he did something to you."

Kari was surprised Davis was speaking up about this. He really hadn't brought up his feelings for her in almost a year. "Davis, he didn't do anything. Things are just different. I guess we just aren't as close as we used to be."

Davis gave her a defeated look. "If you say so."

Kari nodded, giving Davis an encouraging smile. "Don't worry about me."

"That ain't gonna happen." Davis adjusted his backpack onto his other shoulder and sighed, walking past her. "We're gonna be late, come on."

Kari nodded, following close behind. "Yeah."

#

T.K. quickly slipped from his last class, ignoring yet another call from Matt. He didn't want to talk right now. He didn't want to be around anyone right now. Finding a quiet spot in the back of the school library T.K. focused on his homework, forcing his thoughts of his friends, Kari, and that strange digimon from his mind.

An hour and a half later T.K. had finished all his homework and even read ahead in some chapters of his textbooks. He contemplated just walking home but he knew he couldn't keep running away. He had made up his mind. He was going to try and made a mends, somehow.

* * *

So this chapter was getting crazy long so I'm splitting it up. You'll probably get another update soon. Hope you enjoyed.

Thank you for the reviews last chapter. It makes me excited to continue moving the plot forward. I think you'll all enjoy where this story is headed.

As per the usual. If you'd like to support me with my original work, please google **_The Silent Ballad Series_**! =)


	11. False Comfort - Ch 11

I do not own digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

These don't feel so long until I actually look at the word count. Anyway. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Walking slowly up the stairs T.K. slid the door to the computer lab open, as he suspected no one was there. He glanced at the open gate on the computer and then walked past it, sitting at the far end of the back row, next to the window. Pulling out his earbuds he started up some music and pulled out another textbook. T.K. slid off of his school uniform jacket and unbuttoned the top buttons on his white shirt, rolling up the sleeves.

After a few minutes he thought he'd seen something out of the corner of his eye, glancing around he tried to shake the feeling someone was in the room with him. Going back to his history book he began jotting down some notes, pausing every few words to tapped his pen to the music blasting in his ears.

Again he felt it, T.K. twisted around and slowly gazed over the room, the door still shut, the gate still waiting idly for the others to come back through. Shaking his head, he went back to his book.

A few minutes later he jerked at the slightest touch to his shoulder, turning he was surprised to see Yolie standing behind him. His expression probably mirroring the surprise on her face.

Exhaling deeply, he quickly took his earbuds out and smiled. "Sorry, you startled me."

Yolie's expression softened and she smiled back. "I tried saying something to you when I walked in, but you didn't respond." She laughed lightly. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's okay." He watched as she sat down at the desk next to him.

"I thought you'd be with the others." She noted lightly.

T.K. tapped his history book with the top of his pen and shrugged. "Homework."

She nodded with a soft smile. "Same. But I'm helping Ken after they get back so I decided to stop by and wait for him here."

T.K. glanced at the monitor for a minute then back at Yolie who was still staring at him. "I was thinking I'd be done with this by now." He lied. "But maybe I'll just head home."

Yolie frowned. "I heard from Cody that you got stuck in the digital world last night."

T.K. turned back to his history book. "It wasn't that big of a deal."

Yolie looked at him curiously. "So, how have things been since you got back?"

T.K. stared out the window for a minute before he turned back to Yolie. "Different. But not too bad I guess."

Yolie leaned back in her chair. "How's your mom doing?"

"Good." T.K. replied lightly. "Enjoying France and the new company she is working for."

Yolie nodded. "That's good then."

There was an awkward silence that fell between them as Yolie grabbed a few of her books from her book bag. Finally, T.K. took in a deep breath. "So, I've been meaning to talk to you."

Yolie stopped and gave T.K. a curious look. "Oh, have you? Just since you got back or since the three dozen emails I sent you last year?"

T.K. gave Yolie a guilty look. Her words silencing him. She was never one to really sugar coat anything and now that they were alone he wasn't particularly surprised by her response—not that, that made it any easier to hear.

She eyed him for a few minutes, glancing back to see the gate to the digital world was still idle. "I would say sorry. But I don't really feel like I'm the one who owes the apology here."

T.K. nodded, unable to look up from the floor. "I made mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Before and after I left." Yolie's expression lightened as she turned her chair to face him, giving him a look to continue. "I can't really go into a lot of details, but I stopped talking to you, to Cody, to really everyone shortly after I left. It wasn't that I didn't want to. I was just…" his voice quieted.

"T.K. I'm not mad at you." Yolie said, hearing the struggle in T.K.'s voice. "Or I should say was mad, but not anymore."

T.K. gave Yolie a skeptical look. "What?"

Yolie gave him a sympathetic grin. "It had something to do with Kari, right?"

T.K. looked at her with surprise. "She told you what happened?"

Yolie sighed. "Not really. But I know the jist of it. What I didn't know was she had completely stopped talking to you after you left. I only found that out recently, from Ken."

T.K. looked away from Yolie. "I didn't want to make things difficult for her."

"You told her how you felt, right?" Yolie asked, genuine concern on her face.

T.K. didn't want talk about this—but he had to. "Honestly I didn't want anyone to know what I'd done. And I was afraid things would change between all of you, if you all found out."

"You thought some of us would be mad at Kari for turning you down?"

T.K. shrugged. "Not that really. Just that if I came back to visit or if you all wanted to come and visit me, it would've meant she'd be left out or forced into an awkward situation. It would cause rifts. Either I would lose friends or she would. I didn't want…" T.K. took a deep breath leaning back in his chair. "I didn't want anyone to have to choose."

Yolie frowned. "You decided to choose for us."

T.K. ran his hand through his hair. "Basically."

"I was pretty pissed at you. For a long time." Yolie started. "But one day I was telling Kari about how mad I was at you for not responding to our messages and she almost begged me not to be upset. She then told me that something happened between the two of you and that was probably why you stopped talking to everyone. I kind of pieced stuff together from the way she said it."

T.K. rubbed the back of his neck and leaned forward. "I never wanted to hurt you guys."

"Too late for that." Yolie looked at him sadly.

T.K. nodded. "I know."

Yolie heard a familiar click on the computer, the digital gate lighting up. "T.K., listen. I don't like how you handled the situation—but I'm not mad. I think we're all glad to have you back, even Kari."

T.K. gave Yolie a half smile. "I wouldn't blame you at all, if you hated me."

Yolie's expression turned to surprise. "T.K. we'd never…"

Before Yolie could continue the group fell through the gate in a small pile on the floor. Moans and groans could be heard all around as they untangled themselves from each other and stood.

T.K. smiled at Yolie—a burden that'd been heavy on his shoulders was slightly lighter now, but the guilt was still there. "Thanks." He said quietly and turned to start packing his textbook back into his bag.

"There you guys are!" Davis yelled exhausted.

Yolie greeted everyone with a smile. "How'd it go today?"

Cody shrugged. "Nothing super exciting. A little run in with some vilemon in the eastern forest."

"Piece of cake!" Davis said cockily.

Ken spotted T.K. standing from the far side desk, grabbing his jacket and backpack. "T.K., hey, I, uh…" he looked at him with a guilty expression.

T.K. guessed that if Yolie heard about him getting stuck, so had Ken by now. "Hey."

"I didn't mean to—"

T.K. threw his arms in the air exasperatedly. "I thought we were friends! How could you do that to me?"

Ken almost didn't catch the sarcasm in his tone and started to apologize a second time, but quickly stopped at the smirk that grew on T.K.'s face. "Haha…" he gave T.K. an irritated glare.

Kari watched him carefully from behind everyone else, noting his mood had improved since they'd seen him at lunch time.

T.K. shrugged and walked up to Ken, patting him on the shoulder. "I think you owe me the coffee now."

Ken gave him nod. "Fine. Maybe tomorrow after—"

"Practice tomorrow. We'll grab it over the weekend."

Ken agreed. "Sure."

Davis stretched his arms in the air and rested his hands behind his head. "I don't know about you guys but I'm starved! Hey, let's go to that burger place around the corner."

Cody laughed. "You're always hungry."

Kari pulled her backpack over her shoulder. "Why not?"

Yolie looked to Ken. "We have time?"

Ken nodded. "I think so. You want to go?"

"I'm pretty hungry myself." She replied with a light smile.

Everyone's eyes suddenly fell on T.K. as he walked up to the group. "I could eat."

Ken's eyes widened. A convincing speech all ready for nothing. "Really?"

T.K. raised his eyebrow at Ken. "Unless someone objects." He glanced at the group. His gaze falling on Kari briefly. She didn't look upset by his decision and he really was hungry.

Ken raised his hands defensively, smiling weakly. "No, that's not what I meant."

Suddenly T.K.'s phone started ringing again. It was Matt. T.K. grimaced and hit the ignore button, shoving the phone back into his pocket. "I'm ready if you guys are."

#

The fast food place was fairly quiet as they sat in the far corner eating and talking. T.K. was remaining fairly quiet, only really talking when being spoken to. Davis was easily keeping conversations going all his own and he was enjoying listening to his friends talk.

"So I guess next time we go to the digital world you won't be there either?" Cody looked to T.K. questioningly.

T.K. nodded. "I may not play, but I still have to keep the bench warm." He was referring to his game on Friday.

Kari focused on her phone, trying to keep herself from staring at T.K.. She'd caught herself staring at him for minutes at a time without looking away and knew if he noticed it would probably making him uncomfortable and if he hadn't noticed and someone pointed it out, it'd be awkward. He had grown so much more handsome in the last year. She had always found his looks attractive of course, but he was growing into a young man now.

Looking up from her phone she found his gaze looking directly at her, their eyes meeting and locking. She smiled weakly at him, glancing away.

"So," T.K. began. "Are you still doing photography for the school paper, Kari?" he asked casually.

Kari looked back at him, her smile faded but then returned a little stronger. "Not as much. Last year one of the photography club members started doing a lot of stuff for the paper, so they only ask me when they aren't available."

T.K. looked at her curiously. "You lose interest?"

She had to think—she had actually, without realizing it at first, lost interest in a lot of things she had used to enjoy, after T.K. left. "No. Just been too busy I guess."

T.K. frowned. "Oh. That's too bad."

T.K.'s phone started ringing again, for the third time since they'd gotten there. T.K. took his phone and hit ignore again. This time he held the power button until his phone shut down.

Cody and Ken both saw it was Matt again, glancing at each other and then back at T.K.. Ken frowned. "Shouldn't you answer him? He's called you like four times in the last hour."

T.K. shook his head. "It's fine."

Ken's phone was the next to ring. "Uhm…" he showed T.K. the screen, seeing Matt's name.

"Don't answer or just tell him you don't know where I'm at." T.K. frowned, pursing his lips.

Ken looked uncomfortable. "You two fighting?"

"No." T.K. shrugged. "I just don't want to talk to him right now."

Ken looked to the ceiling and let out a deep breath before answering. "Hello?" T.K. could hear Matt's voice, but couldn't quite make out what he was saying. "Uhm, Sorry I don't know…Yeah if I see him I'll let him know…bye."

Ken hung up the phone and looked at T.K.. "He said he's been trying to get a hold of you since after lunch today and he needs to talk to you."

T.K. looked up out the large windows at the overcast sky, seeing the rain had let up. "Yeah. I know."

Davis leaned over the table. " _Sounds_ like you're fighting."

T.K. shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. It's complicated."

Yolie pushed away from the table, grabbing her purse. "I'm going to go get a refill before we leave. Are you about ready Ken?"

Ken looked at the time. "Yeah. Sounds good." He glanced at T.K. "You need a ride home?"

T.K. shook his head. "Nah. I can walk."

Cody and Davis both started clearing the table, and everyone began saying their goodbyes.

#

T.K. ended up walking the same way Kari was, Davis and Cody quickly making off in different directions shortly after they'd left. It'd been ages since the two had walked home together. Glancing at her briefly he decided better of striking up a conversation. The last time they were alone he was the only one who really spoke.

After a few minutes Kari smiled, a giggle escaping her lips. "Do you remember that one day we walked back to my place with Davis and he kept trying to show off?" she pointed to a raised platform near the bus top ahead of them.

T.K. laughed a little, recalling the goggle headed boy balancing on the edge of the platform, only to end up with a bloody nose and a bruised ego. "Man, that was ages ago."

Kari's smile faded. "We had a lot of fun back then."

T.K. inhaled slowly, trying to keep his voice even. "We did."

Kari pursed her lips, which quivered lightly as she smiled again. "I'm glad we can still make good memories together."

T.K. stared at her for a few seconds, forgetting that he shouldn't do that anymore. "Me too."

She looked up at him, both their paces slowing as their eyes met again. "I…"

Suddenly the rain started to pour down on them. "Ah…dang it." T.K. grumbled, taking off his school jacket, placing it over Kari's head. "I'll walk you by your apartment."

Kari nodded, a thankful expression on her face. "Are you sure, you're going to get soaked." She pointed out as his white button up was already half soaked and sticking to his skin.

"Of course." T.K. made it sound like it was an obvious choice. He hesitated as she started speeding up her pace. "Unless you…" his voice quieted. He didn't want to leave her side, not yet. He was going to be a little selfish this time.

"Hmm?" she turned around and looked at him as he stared. "What did you say?" she watched water start to drip off the edges of his messy blond hair which was beginning to stick to the sides of his face.

"Nothing." He smiled and hurried after her.

#

T.K. was almost home and for the first time his thoughts weren't on the weird digimon or the guilt that was eating away at him—he was thinking about how nice it was to have a carefree afternoon with his friends. He was even able to talk to Kari and he didn't feel like he was making her uncomfortable. He knew that things could never go back to the way they were before, his feelings for Kari alone would ensure that, but he missed her and his friends.

Walking up to the door to his apartment T.K. rummaged through his pockets, looking for his keys—before he could find them he heard voices coming from inside, Matt was home and someone else was with him, not Sora. He quickly recognized the voice—Tai.

He found his key and slipped it into the door as quietly as possible, cracking the door open so he could hear what they were saying. He was hoping Tai being there would prolong his inevitable argument with Matt.

"—when I was visiting yesterday." Tai's voice came into clarity.

"Kari said that?" Matt asked, disbelief in his tone.

Tai let out a deep breath. "I haven't seen her this upset in a long time."

T.K. froze at their words.

Matt's voice quieted. "So that's what happened. T.K. only just told me this weekend that he told Kari how he felt before he left—I haven't had a chance to get into it with him."

"I wasn't sure if you knew anything about it, or T.K.'s side of the story. I didn't have a clue until yesterday."

Matt's tone spiked with irritation. "I wish he'd just talk to me."

Tai laughed. "Kari used to tell me everything and now I find out she's been keeping things from me for over a year. It's crazy. When did they stop needing us?"

Matt moaned. "I don't even know if T.K. ever did need me." His voice quieted again. "Honestly…"

T.K. couldn't hear what Matt said next.

Tai sighed. "I just wish I could do something to take the hurt away. You know?"

"I've probably only made things worse by forcing T.K. to go hang out with everyone. I had no clue it was that complicated."

T.K. was done. He didn't want to hear anymore. He shoved the door open noisily and walked in, kicking his shoes off.

"T.K.?" Matt called from the kitchen.

T.K.'s teeth clenched. He was trying to stomach what he'd just heard—he thought they were making progress, that they could be friends again, but he was only causing Kari pain.

"T.K.?" Matt walked into the hall to see T.K. sliding his backpack off his shoulder. "Where have you been?"

T.K. looked at Matt, contemplating being civil, it wasn't Matt's fault. None of it was. But he just walked past him, muttering softly. "I was in the school library doing my homework."

Matt watched T.K. as he walked to his room and shut the door. Tai walked out of the kitchen and looked to Matt. "Everything okay?"

"I don't think so. I may have messed up." He sighed. "I'll be right back."

T.K. tossed his backpack onto the floor next to his computer and quickly got out of his wet school uniform into some jeans and a blue t-shirt. Laying down on his bed he desperately wanted to sleep so his mind would just stop.

Matt knocked on his door lightly. "I'm coming in."

T.K. moaned and covered his face. "Go away."

Matt walked in and closed the door behind him. "Okay, first: it's not okay for you to ignore my calls. And Second: I was going to come and get you, you know."

T.K. pushed himself up and looked at Matt. "Just forget it, I'm home, all my homework is done, I've eaten and now I just want to sleep."

"T.K., I need you to talk to me." Matt looked at him sadly. "You're not yourself. And I just want to help if—"

"Not myself? How would you even know? I've been gone for over a year." T.K. snapped.

Matt opened his mouth to respond but stopped and looked to the ground.

T.K. sighed loudly, regretting his words. "Sorry. Listen, there's nothing to help with. If there was I'd tell you." T.K. spoke genuinely. "I'm tired and taking my bad mood out on you. You have your own things going on and I was just being immature."

Matt gave T.K. a solemn look. "If something is wrong, I want to be there to help you. I'm your brother."

"Matt, just stop, please." T.K. laid back down on his bed and rested his arm over his eyes. "I'm sorry, but could you just leave me alone?"

Matt pursed his lips and nodded. "Got it…" and turned walking out of his bedroom.

* * *

So, yeah, glad I split that into two chapters.

Hope you enjoyed!

Help support my writing by checking out my original self-published book series, by googling _**The Silent Ballad Series**_.


	12. The Game - Ch 12

I do not own Digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

So, I hope this is as fun to read as it was to write. I apologize in advance if I misconstrued the basketball game in anyway. I don't watch sports and for a fic I didn't feel like doing the appropriate amount of research to ensure all my facts as I normally would for my stories. So, this is based loosely off of things I remember from movies and tv shows featuring basketball.

* * *

The rush of adrenaline that coursed through T.K. as he sped across the gym was the high he needed to get his mind off everything. His team had been split in two for a practice match and the half on T.K.'s team stopped and watched him in awe as he went full force against the other half. Barely needing to make a move they merely admired his skill and exceptional speed.

Panting and moaning everyone fell to the gym floor in exhaustion from trying to keep up with T.K.

"Damn Takaishi!" one of his teammates laughed. "You beat us all, even your own team!"

T.K. was having a hard time catching his breath when he finally stopped, his chest heaving up and down heavily as he leaned forward, trying to fight the wash of nausea the exertion had forced on him. "Sorry." He managed to say after a few seconds.

The coach walked up to him and gave him a quick, firm pat on the back, which didn't help him any as he coughed and took in a shaky inhale. "You're a damn good player Takaishi."

T.K. nodded and smiled at his coach. "I try."

His coach laughed. "We can all see that."

T.K. and the others hit the showers and soon everyone had dispersed leaving T.K. alone in the locker room. He had just finished packing his belongings into his locker and slipped on his grey sweatshirt when he heard the locker room door swing open. He expected it to be his coach, turning he swung his pack over his shoulder and looked toward the door.

Nothing.

T.K. frowned and glanced around, seeing no one. "I could have sworn…" he spoke lightly, unsure of himself now. He walked around and looked down the other couple of rows of lockers and even looked in the showers, finding himself completely alone. He shook it off and told himself he hadn't realized someone was still in there with him before and it must have been someone leaving, not coming.

Walking home directly afterwards, he had completely avoided seeing any of his friends the whole day. Tai's words repeating over and over again in his mind.

 _"I haven't seen her this upset in a long time."_

T.K. cringed and slowed his pace, he was barely even paying attention to his surroundings. Mindlessly making his way down the streets T.K. stepped off the curb into a crosswalk, a loud honk and screeching breaks snapping him from his daze. A car nearly hit him as he looked up. He looked up seeing the stop signal on the crosswalk sign, the person in the car yelling at him as he quickly stepped back onto the curb.

Inhaling deeply T.K. clenched his fists to keep his hands from shaking. "Get it together." He spoke to himself, waiting for the green symbol to pop up telling him he could cross safely.

T.K. took extra care walking the rest of the way, until he made it to his apartment. He let out a sigh of relief seeing Matt was still gone.

He had just got into his room and closed the door when he heard Matt come home. He grimaced and set his pack down on the floor. Sitting at his desk he rummaged through his pack for his textbook, pulling out his homework. After about twenty minutes T.K. heard Matt knock on his door lightly. If he hadn't been waiting for it, he probably wouldn't have heard it.

"Come in." he called.

Matt opened the door a little, but didn't come inside. "Just wanted to let you know me and Sora are going out to eat tonight."

T.K. turned to look at Matt, smiling lightly. "Oh. Have a good time. Tell Sora I said hi." He tried to sound more _like himself_.

"You need money for dinner or something?" Matt asked, not looking at his brother. T.K. could tell Matt was upset, not mad, just hurt.

"Nah." T.K. shrugged. "I got it. Mom keeps a little money in my bank account, so I'm covered tonight."

Matt gave T.K. a quick nod. "See you later." He turned and closed his door as he walked away.

#

The buzz of excited conversation echoed through the locker room the next day, as he and his teammate finished their last practice before the game that night. He had tried to stay out of the spot light during practice, but after the day before everyone was passing the ball to him at every chance they could. He obliged and took the shots when he could, but fairly passed the ball to others who had better odds of scoring to draw the attention away from himself, despite knowing he could make the shots easily.

His coach gave them a hearty pep talk before leaving the gym and everyone was still pumped from his speech. It was their first game of the school year, but everyone was confident they'd win.

T.K., for once, was one of the first to leave the locker room, running into his coach as he walked through the doors. "Takaishi!" he waved him down.

"Hey coach." He turned to face him.

"Ready for the game tonight?" he asked energetically.

T.K. shrugged. "It'll be good to see how my team plays against people they're not used to."

His coach laughed. "True. But I may end up taking you off bench if things are looking bad."

T.K. shook his head. "I think I'd rather not."

"Oh?" his coach raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you'd be happy to hear you might get some action in tonight."

T.K. shrugged again. "I'm fine either way."

His coach laughed. "We'll see how things go tonight." Patting T.K. on the back as he walked into the locker room. "Get some rest just in case!"

T.K. was a little more eager for the game tonight, either way it would take his mind off of everything for a little while.

#

T.K. hadn't seen Matt all day and ended up having to walk back to the school in the dark—luckily the streets were well lit and there were a decent amount of strangers walking the streets to keep it from bothering him. Normally he wouldn't have minded, but with the encounter with Wisemon the other night he was on edge.

He had hoped Izzy would have gotten back to him by now, but he was checking his email regularly and hadn't received a response. Karma maybe? He had to laugh at the irony.

Walking up to the school he saw the opposing teams bus sitting outside, a small group of them standing on the sidewalk, the rest seemed to be gathering their belongings from the luggage compartments on the outside of the bus—a higher end school to have afforded a fancy bus for their students.

T.K. ignored them, making brief eye contact with the group standing on the curb by the school entrance. They were all seniors by the looks of them, two dark haired boys who seemed too busy chatting to acknowledge T.K. as he walked by, the other three however stared him down. The redhead in particularly gave him a nasty glare before smirking and turning away from him toward his friends. He was slightly taller than T.K. and looked quite fit.

T.K. shook it off and went inside without a second thought. If the boys goal was to intimated him he wouldn't get far—T.K. was too confident in his skills to let someone else shake him that easily.

T.K. was almost to the locker, his backpack with his jersey and hanging off his shoulder lazily when he saw Kari walking down the hall. She smiled at him. "Hey."

Tai's words tightening his chest. "Hey." He slowed to a stop as she walked up to him. "I know you're not playing, but good luck anyway."

"Thanks. "T.K. swallowed hard, smiling back. "What are you doing here?"

Kari's hair was back up in a messy bun, she was wearing dark grey khaki capris, and a pink tee, her yellow hoodie folded over her arm. "Oh we just got back from the digital world. Me and Yolie are going out, I used the girls' locker room to change."

"Oh. I see." T.K. shifted uncomfortably. "Well I better get going." He didn't wait for her to say goodbye and walked past her down the hall.

T.K. had just finished getting dressed for the game and was putting his pack in his locker when he felt his phone vibrating in the front pouch. He knew it was Matt, wondering where he was so late again—he hadn't told him about the game.

He reached in and grabbed it, seeing a text message from Kari. He frowned at the message –"I need you. Please come out front."

T.K. frowned at the message and then looked at the time, he still had ten minutes before the coach was going to come in and give them their pep talk before the game. Shoving his pack back into his locker he slammed it closed and ran out of the locker room, his teammates calling after him confused.

T.K. couldn't imagine why, and he couldn't stop himself. He rushed down the hall, already feeling sweat prickling at his forehead and chest. Rounding the corner, he came to the main doors to the school and stopped, in the far corner near the right side of the doors Kari was talking to the redhead from the opposing team. She had an uncomfortable grin on her face, her back pressed to the wall, the guy's hand pressed to the wall near her face to keep her from moving away.

T.K. felt his face flush with heat at the sly smirk that crossed the teenagers face as he leaned closer to Kari. His fingers twitched and then Kari glanced his way, their eyes locking.

T.K. inhaled deeply and clenched and unclenched his fists a couple times as he walked toward them steadily. "There you are—" he calmly, but forcefully pushed the guy to the side, grabbing Kari's wrist, pulling her against his side. "I was hoping I'd get to see you before the game." His voice was cool and collected.

Kari's eyes widened, but she quickly nodded and played along. "Yeah. I thought I had missed you."

"Who the hell are you?" the redhead wrinkled his nose at T.K., not taking a step back.

T.K. turned. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt… you are?"

The redhead took a step back crossing his arms. "Amura. _Star_ basketball player of Azabu High."

T.K. smiled politely. "It's nice to meet you, Amura. I'm Takaishi."

Kari was trying to keep herself calm, but with T.K.'s arm around her, her side pressing against his, she knew her cheeks had to be beat red. Her phone started ringing and she shifted. T.K. let her slip out from under his arm and walk toward the doorway, no longer being blocked in my Amura. "Hey, I'll be right out."

T.K. pushed past Amura and walked up behind her. "You all right?" he whispered gently, careful not to touch her as he leaned over her shoulder.

She ended the call and turned to face him, their faces inches apart. "Thank you. I'm all right now." Her voice shook.

T.K. glanced back at Amura who was standing behind them, glaring at T.K. "See you after the game then." He spoke loudly.

Kari nodded, knowing T.K. was putting on a show for the arrogant redhead. Another Azuba High player came rushing down the hall at that moment, hollering for Amura. "Game is gonna start in a couple minutes, dude!"

Amura hesitated before he walked past T.K. and Kari. His snide voice calling out sarcastically. "Good luck out there."

T.K. waved. "Nah, I'm just a bench warmer. But good luck to you." He smiled, watching the boy walk down the hall with a sneer on his face.

T.K. inhaled deeply, glancing outside he didn't see anyone waiting for her. "Is someone coming to pick you up?"

"Yolie is in the parking lot." She cleared her throat to keep her shaking voice from sounding too broken.

T.K. nodded. "You want me to walk you out?"

"No, that's okay." She turned and faced him, looking into his eyes. "Thank you."

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" T.K. was concerned—he held his breath as she paused and looked away.

"No. He was only talking to me." She looked back up at him. "Forcefully…with no value of personal space." She glared toward the corner. "I'm sorry but you're the only one I could think to text for help."

"No that's fine." T.K. shook his head. "How did you have my number? It's different than my old one."

"Ken called you from my phone." She reminded him.

"Oh." He ran his hands through his hair and let out a deep breath. All his muscles were tense. "I'll walk you out, come on."

Kari shook her head. "No. The game's starting and you're still out here."

"That doesn't matter." He rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not good at this. I used to be good at hiding my feelings for you, but right now, after that, I don't even care. I don't care if my feelings for you, upset you. You being safe and is what's important."

Kari's eyes widened at his words, tears stinging at her eyes. "It's not that, T.K. That's…"

"Kari?" Yolie walked up behind them.

Kari quickly blinked her tears away and turned. "I'm coming."

Yolie made a face at T.K., wondering if she had interrupted something important.

T.K. turned and walked away from Kari and Yolie without a word, trying to keep his hands from shaking as he walked down the hall.

#

T.K.'s coach was relieved to see T.K. walk into the gym, the game still a minute from starting. "There you are."

"Sorry, something came up that I had to take care of real fast." He bowed his hand apologetically.

"I'll let it slide this time. Get in there."

"Huh?" T.K. frowned.

"Rashi didn't show up. Mom said something about food poisoning, so you're up."

T.K. was still reeling over what he'd said to Kari. "Put someone else in." he pleaded.

His coach eyed him and shook his head. "Unless you can give me a good reason, you're up."

T.K. didn't want to, or have time to explain his emotional state and closed his eyes in defeat. "Got it."

T.K. walked out onto the court, immediately he noticed Amura staring him down, calling out he sneered. "Thought you were a bench warmer."

T.K. didn't bother responding, instead did what he always did—the buzzer rang signaling the start of the game and he immersed himself in the game.

Speeding down the court he easily caught a pass, fighting off the rather aggressive opposing team, T.K. managed to get the first score of the game within seconds. He saw the look on everyone's faces, his team, the Azuba team and even the student body and their families on the bleachers. He shook it off and focused on the game.

T.K. had riled the opposing team with his aggressive start, making it a bit difficult for his teammates, which resulted in almost everyone passing to him at any available shoot. It was tiring but exhilarating at the same time. The halftime whistle sounded and T.K. heaved over, his chest throbbing as he dumbed a bottle of water over his head.

"What the hell!" one of the younger boys on his team collapsed on the chair in front of him. "They're destroying us."

Another member laughed. "Seriously, we'd be 0 to 30 if it wasn't for Takaishi!"

T.K.'s head was ringing. " _Stupid_." He hissed under his breath. The things he said to Kari running through his mind over and over. " _Stupid_."

T.K. straightened, almost too fast, feeling light headed. T.K.'s teammate walked up behind him, putting his hand on T.K.'s shoulder. "You got this."

T.K. nodded, glancing at the scoreboard. They were up by two points, 24 to 22. "We'll see."

As the game started back up, T.K. started doing some passing of his own, surprising his teammates, however he was watching carefully, keeping in mind the advantages and disadvantages of everyone's positioning. It was more difficult than with his team in Hokkaido, who he'd been able to collaborate with and plan things ahead of time—they knew where to be, and the moves to make.

But some of these kids knew T.K.'s play style well enough from before he left and from their few practice matches that it was more effective than T.K. had anticipated. It was frustrating however, as the opposing team consistently kept within a few points of them, mostly due to Amura who was determined beat T.K.

They had less than a minute on the clock when his coach called a time out. T.K. was grateful for the breather, feeling like he could pass out at any second.

"Okay boys. We're tied. We need to score." He looked over the group, his eyes falling on T.K. "If Takaishi can catch his breath and get back in there, we need to get the ball to him." T.K. gave his coach a desperate look. "Takaishi, all I want you to do is get yourself to the best place you can shoot from, they'll be trying to block you, so the most comfortable and natural spot—that's it. Do your best."

T.K. inhaled deeply, taking a big gulp of water before heading back to the court. The cheers from the bleachers and the hot lights that were shining down on them made T.K. slightly disoriented. He could do this—he only had a few more minutes of distraction before he'd have to wallow in the words he spoke earlier.

The game started. As expected T.K.'s position toward the left side of the court was being blocked, while his team struggled across the court against Amura—T.K.'s main concern was him catching the score before they could get him the ball.

Glancing back toward his coach T.K. was surprised to see Davis standing there talking to him, watching the game. He waved at T.K., smiling his cheesy grin with a thumps up.

T.K. had to laugh, turning back to the game he was surprised the ball came flying his direction. Someone yelled his name, and T.K. rushed forward, dodging the two blockers, he gripped the ball and dashed forward, stopping halfway down their side of the court T.K. lifted his hands to make the shot—T.K. heard Davis scream his name, making him look off to the side—three seconds left on the timer. Davis looked horrified, reaching out toward him, stepping out into the court.

As the ball left T.K.'s grip he felt someone collide into his side, shoving him to the floor—his head hit the gym floor sharply. All the cheering and the buzzer signaling time up were suddenly muffled. T.K. felt a throbbing, sharp pain course through his head and his left shoulder.

Opening his eyes everything was too bright, he could barely make out Davis leaning over him, or hear his coaches muffled screams.

"T.K., hey, look at me." Davis' voice came in and out as T.K. tried to focus his vision. "Damn it. T.K. talk to me."

T.K. moaned loudly, reaching for his head he felt something wet and sticky in his hair. There was a lot of yelling, but T.K. couldn't make out any of it at first.

"Someone call for help. The bleeding is pretty bad." T.K. could hear someone yelling, making out random words and Amura's name—he was the one who had ran into him, he assumed.

T.K. felt Davis touching his head and he tried to push him away. "I'm fine." He tried to say, but he wasn't sure that Davis could hear him.

Davis cursed loudly, one of the clearer things he'd been able to make out. "Where's—"

T.K. blacked out.

* * *

I have a long work week coming up so it'll probably be next weekend before I can get another chapter out. Please follow, favorite and review! And thanks to everyone who has already! I'm really honored that so many people are enjoying my story. I didn't think I'd get this much feedback. You're all awesome!

As usual, google **_The Silent Ballad Series_** to find out more about my original work and help support my writing!


	13. Brothers - Ch 13

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or am associated with anyone who is.

I realized this has grown to almost a short story length and I'm nowhere near done. I hope everyone continues to enjoy reading as much as I'm enjoying writing. Your feedback is very encouraging too! So, thank you!

* * *

The smell of antiseptic was strong and the beeping of a heart monitor nearby rang loudly in T.K.'s ears as he began coming to. He opened his eyes slightly to a bright white ceiling. His head pounded and he closed his eyes again, hearing Matt's voice yelling from a distance.

"—How did this happen?" Matt's muffled voice came into clarity.

T.K. turned his head, squinting toward the door, seeing Davis sitting in a chair next to where he lay, staring worriedly at the door. A moaned escaped his lips as he tried to shift his stiff body. "Mmm…"

Davis turned at the sound and looked at him with concern. "Hey man. How you feeling?"

T.K. opened his eyes a little wider, his vision focusing a bit as he looked up at Davis. "What happened?" he started to lift his left hand up to his head, realizing then it was painful to move his shoulder and his movement was being restricted by a sling.

"One of the guys from the other team was trying to stop you from shooting the ball and slammed right into you, Amura I think was his name. You hit the floor pretty hard." Davis watched worriedly as T.K. cringed and lifted his right hand up to his head instead. "The doctor just left. You dislocated your shoulder and got a nasty cut on your head. They were waiting for you to come to, to see if you had any signs of a concussion."

"Where are we?" T.K. finally asked, trying to look around.

"The local hospital." Davis informed him.

"Great." T.K. felt a large bandage on the side of his head, just below his hairline by his temple. "What happened after I blacked out?"

"Nothing really." Davis shot an angry look at the floor. "I think he did it on purpose. The look of rage on that kids face wasn't about the game. And judging from the reaction his teammates had, it wasn't the first time."

T.K. almost laughed. "It's probably because I stopped him from harassing Kari before the game."

Davis' eyes widened. "He was doing what?" his voice raised unintentionally.

T.K. pushed himself up, fighting the urge to wince. "I took care of it. He didn't do anything to her."

Davis clenched his teeth. "That bast—"

"Hey," T.K. smiled uncomfortably. "Don't get all riled up, it's over."

Davis crossed his arms angrily, letting out a deep breath. "You're too calm about these things."

T.K. watched Davis' expression closely. "How long have I been out?"

"About two hours." Davis glanced up at the clock on the wall before continuing. "It's almost 11."

T.K. was about to ask Davis another question when he heard a loud slam from the hallway. "No. I will not be calm!" Matt yelled from the other side of the door.

Davis eyed him carefully as he shifted toward the edge of the bed. "Dude, you probably shouldn't…" before Davis could do anything, T.K. took the heart monitor off his finger and painfully reaching his left hand over to rip the IV out of his right arm, before slipping off the bed and walking toward the door. "T.K.!"

T.K. ignored him and pulled the door open, Matt, his teacher and the coach were all standing outside the door, each looking at T.K. with surprise as he gave Matt a glare. "Enough. Let's go home."

Matt walked over to T.K., ignoring the adults. "Are you alright?"

"I will be." T.K. glanced at his arm. "I just want to go home."

T.K.'s teacher looked worriedly at her student. "I'll call the doctor back."

He forced a light grin on his face. "I'm fine…" She had disappeared down the hall in an instant.

His coach looked apologetically. "I'm going to have a long talk with Azuba High's principle tomorrow. This will be taken care of appropriately."

T.K. nodded and thanked his coach. Looking to Matt he asked lightly. "Can we give Davis a ride home too? It's late."

Matt looked T.K. over, like he was waiting for him to collapse in front of them. "You should get back in bed T.K." he spoke lightly, worried at how pale T.K.'s complexion had become.

"I'm fine."

"T.K., I'm your legal guardian until you turn 18, I'll decide—"

"Can we not do this in front of everyone, please?" T.K. sent Matt another glare.

Matt's voice rose with frustration. "T.K. we're not going anywhere until the doctor releases you."

#

Davis rode in the backseat of the car silently as Matt and T.K. argued in front.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a game tonight?" Matt snapped.

T.K. rolled his eyes. "Until earlier today I thought I was going to be on the bench all night. Plus, you were obviously busy, you weren't even home all afternoon."

"I was out with some friends; it wasn't anything important. I could have been there. If I had of been, when it happened—"

"What? What difference would it have made?"

"Well for starters that punk wouldn't have walked away without any consequences." Matt hissed.

T.K. rolled his eyes again. "It was a game. They're from a prestigious all boys high school, that probably has lawyers up their—"

"What if he'd broken your arm or—"

"I'm fine!"

Matt pulled up to Davis' apartment complex, taking a deep breath he turned back to Davis and gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. Thanks for calling me."

Davis frowned at Matt, looking at T.K.'s profile as he stared blankly out his window. A look of understanding crossing his expression. "If it makes you feel any better T.K., you scored the last points and our school won." He pushed his door open and slipped out into the brisk night air.

Matt inhaled deeply and leaned back in his seat, staring at the ceiling of his car for a few minutes. T.K. could hear the desperation in Matt's voice as he spoke softly. "First I didn't know where you were again. _Again_. And then I get this panicked phone call from Davis telling me you got hurt and he didn't know how bad."

T.K. looked up at his brother, his frown softening. "Matt…"

"First I get to the school and no one will tell me what's going on, then I find out they took you to the hospital and when I get there your unconscious, covered in blood and bandages." Matt's voice broke. "I didn't know what had happened or why you were even at school that late. It made me look like a fool in front of everyone. Davis had to fill me in on everything."

T.K. shifted in his seat, careful not to move his arm. "Can we go home?"

Matt looked at T.K. with a hurt expression, inhaling shakily he turned the engine back on and made his way back to their apartment in silence.

After they were upstairs in their tiny apartment T.K. walked straight to the bathroom. Flicking the light on he locked the door behind him and leaned against it. Glancing to the side he saw there was still blood staining his blonde hair near the cut on his head. He wanted the headache to subside before he went back out, knowing Matt was going to ambush him before he could retreat to his room.

Finally calmed down T.K. opened the door, seeing Matt sitting on the couch, his face buried in his hands. A feeling of guilt built in his chest. "I'm not used to having someone around me, looking after me all the time."

Matt looked up T.K., his concerned expression now showing confusion. "T.K.?"

"Ever since I can really remember I've always been left alone. I was the one checking my grades, I was the one making sure I had something to eat. I was the one making sure mom knew I was alright." T.K. felt a twinge of guilt at those words—he wasn't mad at his mom, but it was the truth regardless.

"T.K., I…" Matt didn't know how to respond.

T.K. continued. "Especially in the last year. Mom's work has been so consuming and tiring I basically lived on my own in Hokkaido. So when you're doing your big brother thing, asking me how my day went, asking me why I'm upset, thinking I need someone to talk to. It's overwhelming and I don't know how to handle it. And then when I start to rely on you, I realize why I never tried to rely on mom. I didn't want to be a burden. I didn't want to keep her from doing the things she needed to do to live her life, and it's the same with you." T.K. took in a deep breath, staring at Matt with a desperate look on his face.

Matt just stared at T.K. for a few minutes in silence, finally stood he walked around the couch and stopped in front of his brother. "Don't ever think you're a burden to me T.K."

T.K. felt tears sting at his eyes and he turned to look at the floor. "I…" his voice caught.

"I'm sorry." Matt spoke softly. "I'm sorry I haven't considered how different this is for you, all I've been thinking about is how different it is for me."

T.K. shook his head. "That's not what I meant…"

Matt put his hand on T.K.'s right shoulder. "I've been trying to be more like your parent than your brother, and I'm sorry."

T.K. shifted away, but Matt's hand gripped his shoulder tightly. "Matt, what I'm trying to get at is, I don't need you." He didn't want to hurt Matt, but he knew those words would push him away.

Matt's eyes widened at T.K.'s words, his hand falling from his brother's shoulder. "That's…" his voice trailed off.

"I got this. I've gotten pretty good at taking care of myself over the years." He tried to smile, but the hurt look on Matt's face made it hard.

"Right." Matt closed his eyes.

"Anyway, don't worry about me anymore. I'll—"

"You honestly think I'll stop worrying about you, just like that?" Matt's voice rose.

T.K. was at a loss for words.

Matt shook his head. "You can tell me not to worry and that you don't need me, but damn it T.K., you're one of the most important people in my life and I'll never stop worrying about you. I get it, you don't want to be a burden. But I'm not going anywhere and I'm not going to stop worrying about you, not now, not when you're eighteen, not when you're eighty!"

T.K. stared at Matt, the tears that stung his eyes earlier starting to fall down his cheeks. He turned his face and made to walk toward his bedroom but Matt grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, he winced but tried to hide it. "Damn it T.K., stop trying to push me away."

"Matt…" T.K. inhaled deeply, his voice shook.

"I'm here, T.K., whether you _need_ me or not." Matt released T.K. who stepped back, his eyes on the floor. "And I'm sorry I'm over bearing sometimes, I'll try and tone it down a bit."

T.K. inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. "Mmm." He nodded.

#

T.K. felt exhausted and stressed—the game, the accident, the things he'd said to Kari, Wisemon's cryptic words—none of it would let him sleep once he laid down on his bed. He couldn't get comfortable either, his shoulder ached terribly, the medication they'd put him on had worn off hours ago and he couldn't fill the prescription he was given until morning.

He couldn't move without it hurting, but not moving hurt as well—and his head throbbed, which almost dulled the pain in his shoulder from time to time through the night. But he wouldn't tell Matt. Despite their conversation and Matt's determination, T.K. refused to give Matt any more to deal with. He was in for a long recovery—he had dislocated the same shoulder three years prior, on a school retreat. It had been seven weeks before he could play basketball again then, there was no telling how long it would take for his reinjured shoulder to heal now.

Finally, despite the building anxiety and stress T.K. felt himself drifting to sleep—the exhaustion finally overwhelming his never stopping brain.

#

T.K. woke with a start, shoving himself upwards, which made him yell out in pain as he had tried to move his left arm in doing so. He panted and fought back pained tears, taking in deep slow breaths he gripped his bedding with his right hand tightly, trying to stop the shaking—the nightmare was back.

He regained awareness and inhaled shakily, laying back down in a sweaty heap. He had grown a lot over the years and had come to terms with his guilt and fear of Devimon and the events of that fateful day he lost Patamon because of his own weakness. And while he no longer let it plague his daily life, whenever he was extremely stressed they would come back, some more vivid than others, some varying from exact memory to distorted fears. This dream was one of the worst he'd had in almost a year.

He swallowed hard and found himself parched. His head still ached, but now he wasn't sure if it was because of the dream or what had happened the night before. He was sick to his stomach regardless—closing his eyes tightly he tried to even his breathing to calm his nerves, but after a few seconds he knew he couldn't fight it any longer. Heaving himself over the side of his bed, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he threw up on his floor.

Pushing himself upright weakly he looked up to see Matt swing his door open in a panic. "T.K.!" he eyed his brother and grimaced at the sick on the floor. "What happened?"

T.K. wiped his mouth and shook his head. "It isn't what you think." He managed between shaking breaths.

"I'm calling Joe." Matt turned before T.K. could argue.

"I had a nightmare." T.K. yelled, though his yelling wasn't very loud.

Matt walked back to his doorway, his phone in his hand, ready to press the call button on Joe's name. "Nightmare?"

T.K. looked at the clock, it read 4:38 am. "I used to have them a lot. Particularly when I was really stressed."

Matt lowered his phone. "What nightmares?"

T.K. winced as he tried to shift his weight back onto the bed, rather than leaning over it. "Devimon."

Matt's eyes darkened and shifted to the floor. "After all these years, it still affects you that badly?"

T.K. thought maybe he shrugged, he couldn't tell through the wincing as he looked up into Matt's eyes. "I don't think I'll ever completely get over what happened. Even if I can logically look back on it and tell myself there was nothing I could have done differently at that time with the experiences I had leading up to that day, I will always feel guilty for what happened."

Matt stared at his brother somberly. "T.K.…"

#

T.K. hadn't realized he'd fallen back asleep until the sunshine beamed in through his window, making him squint and moan. On his nightstand he saw a bottle of water and white paper bag with a note attached. –"I went down to the pharmacy when it opened and got your medication. Take it when you get up, it will help. I had plans I couldn't cancel this afternoon; I'll be back before dinner. Try and eat something. –Matt"

T.K. stared blindly at the bag, not sure he wanted to risk moving. Suddenly his phone rang from his backpack by the door. He grimaced, realizing Davis must have gotten his stuff for him before they left the school and given it to Matt. Inhaling deeply, preparing for the pain he fought back a moan as he pushed himself up and got out of bed. Stopping by his doorway he gripped the wall with his right hand to steady himself, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Reaching down he knelt over his pack and found his phone where he'd left it before running out to save Kari.

Pulling it out he saw Ken's name on the screen. "Hey." He was surprised by how weak his voice was.

" _What happened_?" Ken's panicked voice hissed over the phone.

"Davis call you?" T.K. asked, his voice a little stronger this time as he pressed his phone to his right shoulder and used his free hand to pull himself back up slowly.

"Yeah, a little while ago. He didn't really go into a lot of detail. You were in the hospital?"

T.K. made his way back to his bed and sat on the edge, grabbing the paper bag with his prescribed pain killers. "I dislocated my shoulder and I hit my head pretty hard."

"Are you alright?" the concern in Ken's voice was evident.

"I'll be fine." He sighed, trying to figure out how to open the bottle of pills with one hand.

"Are you up for company?" Ken asked lightly.

T.K. moaned. "No." Finally managing to pop the lid off T.K. took two of the large white pills and popped them in his mouth, ignoring Ken he set the phone in his lap while he took a drink of water.

"—did the doctor say?" Ken's voice faded back as he lifted the phone to his ear.

"Say what again?" T.K. asked and he laid back down on his bed, trying not to let the moan of pain escape his lips as he did so.

"How long it'll take to heal?" He asked again.

T.K. hesitated. "I don't really remember a lot of what he said last night, between Matt freaking out and my head throbbing I only really paid attention when he said he'd discharge me."

Ken let out an exasperated sigh. "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing." T.K. wished the pain killers were more instantaneous.

"T.K." Ken grumbled.

"I probably won't get to play again before summer break, because they won't want me to re-injure it and cause permanent damage if it isn't 100%."

"What about the kid that attacked you?" Ken seemed weary.

T.K. raised his eyebrow. "Attack is a strong word."

"Not according to Davis." Ken stated. "He said your teammates had to stop him from pummeling the guy."

T.K. sighed exasperatedly. "Hot head." He murmured.

"It is Davis." Ken laughed lightly.

T.K. pursed his lips. "I'm going to try and go back to sleep until my meds kick in."

Ken made a disgruntled noise before responding. "I'll come by and see you tomorrow."

"Bring coffee." T.K. said with defeat, knowing he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Ken laughed. "Got it."

T.K. hung up the phone and realized the battery was almost dead. He didn't want to try and get up and plug it in and tossed it next to himself on the bed before resting his arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight, dozing back to sleep slowly.

#

T.K.'s eyes fluttered open, the rays of sunlight shining through his window making him squint. After a few seconds he could hear Matt's voice coming from the living room. "Yeah, I think he'll be fine." There was a moment of silence before he continued. "No. You don't need to—no, no, it's fine. I got this." Another pause. "Yeah, I'll tell him. Love you too, mom. Bye."

T.K. closed his eyes, realizing Matt had been on the phone with their mom. He felt stiff and just wanted to roll over onto his side, but his shoulder protested at the slightest movement.

Inhaling deeply, he opened his eyes again and pushed himself up, waiting for the light headed feeling to pass, T.K. sat still for a few minutes before swinging his legs off the edge of the bed. He remained there for a while, his thoughts collecting, everything that happened in the past week catching up to him—he'd only been back for a week and a day and so much had happened.

There was a slight knock on his door then, he figured Matt didn't want to wake him if he was still sleeping. "I'm up." He said, surprised by how quiet and weak his voice came out again.

Matt opened the door and peered in. "How are you feeling?"

T.K. started to shrug and winced. "Fine, if I could stop forgetting I can't do that." He held his breath waiting for the pain to subside.

Matt smiled weakly at T.K. and walked in. "Did you get anything to eat yet today?"

T.K. shook his head. "I've been asleep pretty much all morning."

Matt looked at him worriedly. "In the mood for anything in particular?"

T.K. smiled lightly. "I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday, anything would be fine."

Matt gave T.K. a look. "You know, based on the last weak and your eating habits, you should look a lot more malnutritioned than you do." He eyed his brother's fit physique.

T.K. laughed. "I usually take better care of myself."

Matt sighed in defeat. "I'll go see what I can make—Sora brought some food, so our fridge isn't actually empty.

T.K. was pleased to hear that there was actual food in the house and not something processed or take out. Though he worried what concoction Matt would whip up, he was too hungry to care.

"Hey…" Matt stopped in T.K.'s doorway. "Are we okay?"

T.K.'s expression darkened, remembering their conversation the night before. "We're okay." He looked up and smiled at Matt, hoping it didn't look too forced.

Matt smiled at T.K. briefly, maybe not completely convinced, but happy to hear it regardless. "Good."

T.K. watched Matt walk out of his room, his gaze falling to his lap guiltily. "Yeah."

* * *

So, I feel like this was a slow chapter, but things will be picking up soon. As a teaser I think the next chapter or the one after will be titled... Crests Reforged. I'm pretty excited for it! T.K.'s had a rough week, wish I could say things would get better before they get worse.

Also, if you haven't already, please check out my original work by googling _**The Silent Ballad Series**_.


	14. Panic - Ch 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

I know it's been a while! I just finished up the last bit today. I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this month, so my attention has been divided! That being said I'll be focusing the rest of April on my NaNoWriMo, so don't expect an update on here until May. Sorry! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

-Friday Night-

Kari let out a shaky breath as she sat in Yolie's car. Closing her eyes, she rehashed T.K.'s words in her mind over and over. She couldn't recall a time when she'd heard that tone of voice coming from T.K.'s lips—an agonizing mixture of frustration and sadness.

 _I don't care if my feelings for you, upset you. You being safe and is what's important._

Kari didn't hear Yolie at first, blinking she turned to her friend who yelled out her name sharply. "Sorry." Her voice shook lightly.

"What happened back there?" Yolie's concern was evident. "Why was T.K. yelling?"

Kari pursed her lips and clenched her teeth to keep her lips from quivering as she looked down at her lap, remaining silent.

Yolie let out an exasperated sigh, refusing to start the ignition until she got some answers. "You've refused to talk about T.K. with me since he left. And now that he's back you're both acting weird. I get the picture—but I need details."

Kari shook her head, her lips trembling now, tears brimming in her eyes. "I can't." her fingers curled around the edge of her hoodie, her thumbs pinching down on the bottom of the zipper to keep her hands still.

"You're scaring me, Kari." Yolie spoke a bit kinder. "Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head, her muscles tightening at Yolie's words, ones similarly asked by Davis. "No." she replied harshly, frustration starting to fester.

"Then what!" Yolie smacked her steering wheel. "This doesn't make any sense!"

Kari looked out the side window at the filled parking lot—an unusual scene for so late at night. "I'm the one." She bit her lip.

"What do you mean you're the one?" Yolie raised an eyebrow at her friend worriedly.

Kari closed her eyes to fight back her tears. " _I_ hurt _him_." She breathed.

Yolie leaned back in her seat, but didn't take her eyes from Kari. "Because you rejected his feelings?"

Kari's eyes snapped open at Yolie's words, tears freely falling down her cheeks. "I was stupid."

Yolie's eyes widened at the implications her words indicated. "What are you trying to say?"

Kari inhaled shakily. "It's too late now."

"Too late for what exactly?" Yolie pressed.

Kari reached for the door handle. "I'm going to walk home. I need some fresh air."

Yolie reached over and grabbed Kari's wrist, stopping her. "Hold on just a minute! What do you mean you were stupid?"

Kari twisted her wrist from Yolie's grasp easily, as she had no intention of hurting her friend. Kari took her hand off the door handle and looked up at Yolie, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"If you're saying what I think you're saying, I think it does." Yolie narrowed her eyes angrily at her best friend. "Talk to me."

Kari gave Yolie a guilty look. "Please don't do this."

"Do what?" Yolie hissed.

"You're my best friend and I tell you everything. But this, right now, tonight, I can't. I just want to go home. Please." She begged Yolie, tears still sliding down her cheeks every time she blinked.

Yolie felt tears of her own stinging her eyes and looked away in defeat, staring the ignition without another word.

#

Kari managed to slip past her parents with a quick hello and a long day excuse and retreated to her room without notifying them of her shaken state. She pressed her back to her bedroom door, not bothering to turn the lights on she slid down to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees.

T.K.'s expression when he'd first seen she was being cornered by that guy made her heart quicken—but not in a bad way. It was a look of jealously and concern. Then the cool look that cast over his face as he inhaled and walked steadily toward her, not skipping a beat he fell right into the role of protective boyfriend. She gingerly ran her fingers over her wrist where T.K. had grasped her and pulled her in close. Closing her eyes, she tried to recall his scent, so familiar and comforting. It made her blush thinking about it.

Suddenly her phone vibrated in her back pocket, having forgotten until then it was even there. She knew it wasn't from T.K., but the thought crossed her mind anyway. It was Yolie sending her a text. "Can we go hang out on Sunday?"

Kari felt bad for being so rude to Yolie earlier and let her guilt get the better of her, responding with a quick yes.

Kari sat on her floor for a long time, eventually making it back to her feet, she changed into her pajamas and slipped into her bed. The tears had dried but her heart still ached.

She had felt like she was hiding the pain well, but T.K. must have seen through her, realizing his feelings for her, did hurt. But not for the reasons T.K. probably thought. They hurt because she wanted them—but she did not deserve them. Not now. Especially not now. She couldn't rely on T.K., calling him out there like that was a mistake, but she had done it so hastily and without a thought of what it would do to him.

Before drifting off she prayed that his game had gone well and their exchange had not distracted him from enjoying himself. "I'm sorry, T.K." she whispered, her brow quivering as she fought back another wave of tears.

#

Kari woke up Sunday morning, refreshed from her relaxing and uneventful Saturday. She was in a better mood, though thinking of T.K. made her heart hurt. She put on a smile as she finished her usual modest amount of makeup, trying to put herself back into the frame of mind that she wanted to repair their friendship to any possible extent.

Glancing herself over one last time, she eyed her chosen outfit, having seen the warm temperature for the day and the sun shining outside she had opted for her faded blue jeans with the intentional tears and rips, with a navy blue tank top. She looked pleased with her decision to flat iron her hair, not feeling like the extra effort was wasted.

Yolie's name popped up on her phone, which was lying on the bathroom sink beside her. She picked it up and answered cheerily. "Hey."

"Hey, Kari…" her voice was quiet, not her normal vibrancy.

Kari frowned. "Are you here yet?"

"No. I'm running late. Ken just stopped by on his way…" Yolie paused. "Has Davis talked to you this weekend?"

Kari walked back into her room and sprayed a hint of her favorite perfume on, responding lightly. "Oh no, what'd he do _this_ time?" she let out an exasperated moan.

"No, that's not…" Yolie grumbled under her breath before continuing. "I figured no one told you. Listen, Kari, T.K. got hurt during his game on Friday. He was in the hospital—"

Kari's eyes widened. "What?" Her hands shook as Yolie continued, but she couldn't concentrate on what Yolie was saying. Catching a few words between her whirling thoughts. "…Amura attacked—" her heart raced. "…Davis said he was unconscious…." She dropped the phone to her side and closed her eyes tightly. She could hear Yolie's tiny far away voice, but couldn't make out the words. After a while she realized Yolie was calling her name. "Kari? Kari!"

Kari clenched her teeth and put the phone back to her ear. "Is he alright?"

Yolie hesitated. "Ken hasn't been by his apartment to see him yet."

Kari hung up the phone. She steadied her hands and inhaled deeply to calm herself. Scrolling through her contacts she found T.K.'s name and clicked on it. Putting the phone to her ear she was surprised to hear his voice before it even rang—"Hey there!" his usual eager voice answered.

"T.K.—!" She gasped and then stopped as he continued without a beat.

"Sorry I missed your call. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!" T.K.'s voicemail continued.

Kari stared at her phone screen for a few seconds hearing the beep go off. "T.K…" her voice shook, barely audible before she clicked the end button. Again she tried his number and found the voicemail came on immediately, not even a single ring.

She took a few more deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves, but she couldn't. "T.K.…"

#

T.K. had fallen asleep on the couch the night before and had quite literally spent most of the day lying on it, watching TV with Matt. With the cushions, the couch somehow had just the right amount of support to keep him comfortable, unlike his flat bed.

Matt stretched and yawned, looking at the clock. "Oh jeez, it's already 3? I'm going to go get Sora. She's going to cook us dinner." He clasped his hands with eagerness.

"Is that because you told her you weren't coming by tonight?" T.K. raised an eyebrow at him.

Matt stared at T.K. blankly for a minute and then looked at the floor angrily. "No." he hissed. "I…"

"Go to her house! Don't make her come all the way over here and cook in our tiny, messy kitchen."

"She wanted to come and check up on you too." Matt defended. Standing he cleared their bowls and cups off the coffee table, which had accumulated over the course of their very lazy day, and dumped them in the sink.

"She's going to do our dishes for us too if you don't before you go get her." T.K. snapped. Reaching gently, he was able to grab the remote with little discomfort, changing the channels on the TV.

"You know what… be quiet." Matt walked past T.K. toward the door, grabbing his keys. "I'll be quick and I'll clean when we get back."

"You're lucky she puts up with your mess." T.K. looked up at him before he closed the front door.

Matt paused. "Heh… no kidding." He shrugged and closed the door.

T.K. rolled his eyes and pushed it to the back of his mind. Clicking the TV off T.K. let the constant sound of the window fan lull him into a nap.

T.K. opened his eyes—it was dark and he was on his hands and knees in the forest, his heart beat quickly as he heard Patamon calling for him. He tried to stand but as he did he felt a chill run down his spine, that feeling of time slowing enveloping him again. He turned around to see Wisemon's hand gripping his shoulder tightly. "You are the gate." His hollow voice repeated in his ear harshly.

A loud knock on the door made T.K. sit bolt upright, startling him awake. Panting he fought back a cry of pain and inhaled deeply, the knock came again, but this time it was much quieter.

Cursing he pushed himself up, straightening his plain black t-shirt he stood and walked toward the door. Assuming it was Ken, T.K. figured he wasn't going to judge his grey sweatpants and mussed hair. Swinging the door open T.K. inhaled deeply to calm his nerves. "Hey K—Kari?" he stuttered with surprise.

Kari stood, seemingly out of breath, sweat beaded across her forehead. "T.K." she gasped, looking him over with concern, seeing his arm in a sling and a bandage on the side of his face.

"What?" He cleared his throat trying to get over the shock of seeing Kari unexpectedly on his doorstep. Her hair and makeup were done and she was wearing a cute outfit. "What are you doing here?"

"I just heard…" she could barely get her words out. "…Are you alright?"

T.K.'s eyes widened at the deepening concern in her expression, tears brimming in her eyes. "What? Yeah. I'm…" he paused as she stared into his eyes. "I'm fine. Did run all the way here?"

"This was my…" her voice cracked. "...fault?" she reached up and gently touched his face near the bandage.

T.K. shook his head. "What? Who told you that? This had nothing to do with you." His heart raced, Kari was close...too close.

"The boy from the other team, it was that Amura kid, right? He attacked you?" she frowned at him.

T.K. frowned. "It was an accident."

"Yolie said—" T.K. interrupted her suddenly.

"Kari, really. I'm fine." He averted his gaze, hoping she hadn't noticed how flushed he had become since she'd placed her hand on the side of his face.

"T.K.…" Kari realized how close she was to him and lowered her hand, pulling it toward her chest hesitantly.

"You could have just called or—"

This time she interrupted him. "I tried!" she had to look away and blink a few times to stop the tears that were so close to falling from her eyes. Calming down she repeated slowly. "I tried."

T.K. frowned and then remembered his battery was almost dead the last time he'd used it. "I didn't plug my phone in last night."

Kari looked worriedly at him still. "I kept getting your voicemail." Her voice was weaker now.

T.K. gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm fine. See?"

Kari nodded. Her cheeks turning rosy with embarrassment. "You were in the hospital?" he nodded lightly. "I just got so worried when you weren't answering…"

T.K. pursed his lips, mumbling under his breath. "That idiot…" cursing Davis in his mind for blabbing to everyone.

"Tell me what happened." Kari asked firmly, gaining some of her confidence back.

T.K. stared at her for a long time before speaking, trying to change the subject. "Were you going somewhere?" he nodded toward her outfit and makeup. Her shiny straight hair gleaming from the afternoon sunlight peering in through the window at the end of the hall.

"That's not important. Don't change the subject." She frowned at him.

T.K. gave her a look before averting his gaze to the floor. "Why are you here Kari?" he asked quietly.

"What do you mean why?" Kari closed her eyes guiltily. "I _needed_ to know you were alright." She looked back up at him, but his eyes were still on the floor. "It was _my_ fault this happened."

T.K. looked up sharply, scowling. "No, it's not." T.K. said with frustration. " _You_ didn't do this." He desperately wanted that look of guilt to leave her eyes. "This happened because I was wiping the floor with their whole team, and Amura was a hot head."

Kari opened her mouth to argue, but stopped. Closing her mouth, she lowered her gaze to the floor. After a few seconds she looked back up at T.K. "You're alright?"

T.K. hesitated—he wasn't, not because of his injuries, but because of what was happening right now. "Yeah." He replied slowly.

He could see the hurt in her eyes as she smiled weakly at him. "Good." She paused. "I'm glad." Giving him a sad, but encouraging smile, Kari stepped back, walking into the hall. "See you at school?"

T.K. had to clench his teeth and exhaled slowly to keep his voice even. "Yeah." He breathed lightly.

Kari stopped before she was out of T.K.'s line of sight. Contemplation on her expression as she turned her gaze to him again. "And T.K., it doesn't upset me."

T.K. frowned, obviously lost. "What?"

Kari's eyes glimmered with tears again, but she managed to blink them away. "Your feelings for me. They don't upset me."

T.K.'s eyes widened at her words, his mouth parted but no words would form.

"And I'm sorry for everything." Kari continued. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I let _my_ feelings tear us apart like this."

T.K. closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "Kari…"

She smiled brightly. "I'm sorry we have to be like this—at arm's length."

T.K. opened his eyes, grimacing. "I'm sorry too." He couldn't return the smile.

"Bye." She continued to smile as she walked away.

Once Kari was down the stairwell she let her tears run down her cheeks freely, her hand shaking as she held them tightly against her chest. " _I'm so sorry._ " She breathed, breaking down in the middle of the stairwell.

#

-Three Weeks Later-

Class had gone late that day, so when Davis and Kari walked into the computer lab, Yolie, Ken and Cody were all waiting for them.

"What took you guys so long?" Cody huffed.

Davis looked exhausted as he plopped down on a nearby chair. Tossing his pack on the floor next to Cody's. "We have a cultural festival when school starts back up after summer break and our teacher made us stay behind to pick out a theme for our class."

Kari laughed at Davis. "You'd have thought our teacher was torturing him with pins and needles the way he looked through the whole thing."

"I don't even care about it!" Davis threw his hands in the air.

Ken laughed. "It's your senior year, enjoy it."

Davis gave Ken a quick glare before glancing around the room expectantly. "Still no T.K.?"

Everyone in the room averted gazes at the mention. Ken shrugged. "I saw him over the weekend, the sling is off, but he says it still acts up sometimes."

Yolie gave Kari a look before turning back to the computer, starting the gate program she opened it and turned to everyone. "Are we ready to go?"

Just as everyone walked toward the computer T.K. walked in—everyone seemed surprised to see him and he in return seemed just as surprised to see them still there.

"Oh, hey." He spoke lightly, smiling.

Cody was the first to greet him. "Hey, we thought you'd never come back."

T.K. smiled politely. "Actually I borrowed this from Ken last week." Reaching into his backpack he pulled out a small compact external hard drive. "I was just going to leave this in here for Ken."

Kari made eye contact with T.K., but he quickly averted his gaze, as he'd done every time they'd passed each other in the hall at school over the past weeks.

Ken walked over and took the drive from T.K. "You done with it already?"

"Yeah. I've had enough free time." He looked wearily toward the door.

Davis smiled encouragingly. "You should come with us today! It's been forever. And Patamon keeps asking how you're doing."

T.K. glanced past Ken to the others and smiled apologetically. "Maybe next time. Matt's waiting for me outside. Tell Patamon I'll see him soon?"

Davis gave him a disappointed look. "Yeah." Everyone said their goodbyes to T.K. and filed over to the computer, disappearing into the gate. Ken had walked over and tossed the drive into Yolie's purse before turning back to T.K.

"You sure everything is alright?"

T.K. shrugged—finally able to do so without much discomfort. "Same as the last time we spoke."

Ken shook his head. "Is Matt really waiting for you?"

T.K. rolled his eyes at Ken. "Don't start."

Ken shot T.K. a frustrated glare. "Ever since your accident you've actively avoided everyone—even me for the most part."

"Yeah, but you're too persistent to avoid." T.K. smiled slyly.

Ken smiled back lightly. "You're coming back, right?"

"Yeah." T.K. nodded. "I'll start coming with you guys until they let me start participating in basketball again."

"When's that?" Ken asked genuinely curious.

T.K. moved his shoulder a little. "Physical therapist said it'd be a few more weeks as long as I don't strain it."

"Coming to the digital world could compromise your recovery. You never know what'll happen." Ken pointed out.

T.K. nodded. "I'll be careful."

"What I'm getting at is, you're not using that as an excuse…how come?" Ken gave him a skeptical look.

T.K. laughed at Ken's suspicion. "I could if you want me to."

Ken looked at him sadly. "That's not what I meant."

"I know." T.K. adjusted his backpack which hung off his right shoulder. "But I took your advice. I made up my mind."

Ken looked curiously at him. "So you're going to stop running away?"

"I'm going to try my best to face my problems." T.K. smiled weakly.

Ken glanced at the computer. "Even if it makes things difficult for Kari?"

T.K.'s face shadowed as he looked away. "I just have to hope I can find a way to stay and not hurt her anymore."

Ken sighed. "I hope so too."

T.K. smiled at Ken a little more confidently. "They're waiting for you. I'll see you later." With a quick wave T.K. turned and walked out of the room quickly.

#

Watching his team practice from the top of the bleachers T.K. was lost in thought. It'd be a very slow, awkward three weeks and he was ready for things to go back to their not normal, normal.

His team mates would periodically look up at him and smile or wave. They idolized him for their win against Azuba and eagerly awaited the doctor's approval for return to normal activity. He almost felt like they were more excited for it than he was.

Suddenly T.K.'s phone vibrated in his pocket, pulling it out he glanced at it, surprised to see a text from Ken—"We can't find Patamon anywhere—none of the other digimon know where he went."

T.K. sat frozen, reading the text over and over. He had to tighten his grip on his phone to keep his hand from shaking. Wisemon's image kept flashing through his mind—if something was targeting him why had he not considered Patamon also a target? Why had he been so caught up in himself to notice. He cursed, clenching his teeth. Grabbing his pack he raced down the bleachers, ignoring his friends worried stares as practice halted at his sprinting across the side of the gym.

"Whoa. Everything alright Takaishi?" One of his teammates hollered. T.K. waved before shoving through the swinging doors, trying to signal there was nothing for them to worry about before running down the hall.

"Patamon…" T.K. felt his heart pounding in his ears as he raced up the stairs toward the computer lab.

* * *

Cliff hanger? Sorry. I hope you look forward to the next chapter! I'm excited to write it. But first NaNoWriMo. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed.

As usual, google **_The Silent Ballad Series_** to check out my original work! Thanks for your support!

Next Chapter: "Crests Reforged"


	15. Crest Reforged - Ch 15

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or am associate with anyone who does.

So hello again. Sorry I was so preoccupied with NaNoWriMo. If you also participated, congrats, we made it. Win or almost win or not quite almost win... there is no losing to NaNoWriMo, is what I'm getting at...congratulations!

Without further ado... please enjoy.

* * *

T.K. dug his digivice from his backpack before tossing it on the floor in the computer lab, not wasting a second he reached his hand up and melted in a flash of light into the computer. His heart beat in his ears as he materialized in the digital world. The place was calm and quiet—the opposite of what he was currently feeling. The mood shifted as Cody walked up to him, Armadillomon at his side. "There you are." Cody greeted him, an anxious smile lifted his lips slightly.

"Did you guys find him yet?" T.K. asked, anticipating the predictable no as Cody replied, shaking his head.

"Not yet." Cody looked to Armadillomon. "We're split up into groups—Kari and Yolie went south and Davis and Ken headed toward the base of the mountain." He pointed west.

T.K. shifted uncomfortably in his school uniform, undoing the green blazer and the first few buttons of his white button up shirt. "When was the last time anyone saw him?" he directed his question at Armadillomon.

He made an awkward shrugging gestured. "That's what's odd. No one recalls seeing him since the day before yesterday."

T.K. walked closer to his friends and asked calmly, trying to even his shaking tone. "Is it abnormal for him to go off on his own?"

Armadillomon shook his head. "He usually always let's someone know where he's going. Not even the villagers seem to remember him mentioning anything." He gave T.K. a sympathetic grin. "But I'm sure he's fine."

T.K. pursed his lips. "I have a bad feeling."

Cody eyed T.K. silently, almost as if he was expecting T.K. to explode. Finally, he drew T.K.'s attention wearily. "I told the others we'd head north, but if you'd rather go east I can let them know."

"One isn't any better than the other. Let's just head north and see what we can figure out." T.K. walked past the two without making eye contact with Cody.

They walked silently until they were out of the village. Once deeper into the forest T.K. broke the silence calling out for Patamon. Cody and Armadillomon fanned out and did likewise, calling for their friend.

T.K.'s anxiety level only rose as time passed. For Patamon and even himself—flashes of Wisemon running through his mind, trying desperately to recall anything that could help him find Patamon.

#

Matt sat on the couch lazily, talking to Sora on the phone, the TV turned down low for no more than background noise as he listened to her talk about her day at school.

"So…" she paused after Matt had remained silent a little too long.

"Hmm?" Matt blinked to clear his unfocused vision. "Yeah?"

"How's T.K.?" she asked lightly.

Matt shrugged, even though Sora couldn't see him. "I honestly don't know. We had a talk after his accident and I was really hoping it would change things between us a little, but if anything he's more distant. And he's using his injury to avoid everyone else too."

Sora let out a worried _hmph_. "It's unfortunate that he was hurt so badly on his first game of the season."

"I'm worried that if he can't catch a break he's going to lose himself." Matt ran his hand over his face tiredly, resting his forehead in his palm.

"Lose himself?" Sora inquired lightly.

"His optimism? I don't know. Like, he still puts on a good show and acts like himself, but ever since he moved back I've just felt like he's been forcing it. I'm just worried it's not a phase."

Sora was silent for a long time before she responded. "We've all had our times when we've lost hope." She hesitated. "Both of us know that first hand. Darkness had taken hold of us both there toward the end of our adventure. T.K. may be going through a similar situation in his life right now. But he'll make it through."

"Mmm…" Matt clenched his teeth, remembering too clearly the anger and hopelessness that had taken hold of him.

"Matt?" Sora asked worriedly.

"We did manage to break through the darkness, but not alone." Matt's voice quieted. "I'm just worried I'm not going to be there for him when he needs me."

Sora's voice answered weakly. "He's not alone, Matt. We're all here for him. But we can't force him to let us help—like when you left. There wasn't much we could do for you, not until you were ready."

Matt inhaled slowly. "I know. I just never thought T.K. would have to go through this…he's always been that optimistic shining light of the group. Even when everything is hopeless, he's…"

"Just because he had the crest of hope doesn't mean he can't lose hope, Matt. We're all just human after all."

Matt let out a frustrated moan. "I know that."

#

T.K. and Cody had been walking for almost an hour now, their shouts getting fainter and more discouraged as there was no trace of the little digimon.

Cody finally stopped, looking through the thick forest he saw T.K. just ahead of him, looking dismayed. "T.K., I'm sure we'll find him. Let me get a hold of the others and…" he trailed off seeing that his cellphone had no reception. "That's odd."

"What is?" Armadillomon asked, walking up behind Cody.

"I have no service." Cody looked around worriedly.

Armadillomon shrugged. "Try the D-Terminal?"

Cody nodded, pulling out the grey device he flipped it open. "Nothing here either."

T.K. glanced back at Cody, pulling his own phone out of his pocket. "Weird." He saw no bars on his phone either. "I wonder what's causing the interference."

Armadillomon looked around wearily. "Maybe it has something to do with Patamon going missing?"

T.K. frowned. "It's possible. Something's going on that's for certain."

Cody nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should head back and see if we can get a hold of the others and regroup."

T.K. shook his head. "I'm going to keep going, you can head back—"

"Are you serious right now?" Cody shot T.K. a glare. "Why would I leave you out here all alone? Especially knowing something weird is going on."

"I'll be fine." T.K. lied, he had to clench his fists to keep his hands from shaking—whatever had Patamon was probably after him. But maybe it was the best way to find Patamon before it was too late.

"We'll keep going. Together. I'm not leaving you out here alone." Cody walked up to T.K., anger evident on his face. "I know you're worried about him, but don't be reckless." His expression lightened. "There's no sense in putting yourself at risk—that wouldn't help Patamon."

T.K. let out a deep breath. "I know." He looked away from Cody and started walking again, calling out for Patamon.

It took another twenty minutes of walking before Cody finally stopped. "T.K., maybe we should veer off toward the east?"

T.K. hesitated and then nodded—more to please Cody than out of actual compliance. "Sure."

#

The forest began to thin and old stone streets buried beneath the earth began to poke out in small patches, crumbled stone lay scattered randomly around the area as they continued northeast.

"What is all this?" Cody asked Armadillomon curiously. "Have we really never been out this way before?"

Armadillomon frowned. "I guess not. I don't remember hearing about ruins this way though. We're not that far out of our normal route are we?"

Cody glanced worriedly at T.K. who didn't seem to be paying any attention to them or the growing amount of aged debris. "We've been walking this direction for well over an hour now. And we still don't have any service." He glanced at his phone again. "We should head back to the village and regroup."

"Not yet." T.K. urged, surprising Cody that he was actually listening.

"T.K., what if the others already found him and they can't get a hold of us?" Cody snapped at him. "Let's be smart about this."

T.K. looked at Cody, making eye contact with the boy for the first time since he'd gotten to the digital world. It still threw him off how much taller Cody had gotten while he'd been away. "Let's check out these ruins and if we don't find anything we'll go back. Listen, I'm sorry and I don't want to fight with you, but…" He ran his hands through his hair and looked out over the thinning forest.

"You're really worried." Cody didn't take his eyes off T.K. as he narrowed his eyes and looked to the ground.

"I told you…" he looked up at Cody. "I have a bad feeling."

Without waiting for Cody to respond T.K. continued forward. It wasn't long before the three slowed their pace to watch the crumbled stone begin to resemble structures and now there was more stone than earth, leaving only small patches of dirt and grass spotted around them.

"This place looks like it's been like this for a long time." T.K. noted lightly as they stopped and peered around the ruins. The ruin that still mostly resembled a building, perhaps once a church, had collapsed in on itself and weather had worn it down.

"I don't think anyone has been here recently either." Armadillomon added. "What do you say we head back now?" He looked up at T.K. who was staring intently on the ruins ahead, frowning.

Cody looked curiously the same direction that T.K. was and saw what he was looking at. "What is…?"

"You see it too?" T.K. took a step forward, but hesitated. "That light?" subtle small streams of white and golden light flickered up from between the stone blocks.

Cody nodded. "Is it coming up from the ground through the stone?"

"Let's check it out." T.K. started walking forward again, a little more confident—there was a feeling coming from the light that felt familiar and almost comforting. "It can't be…" he whispered as he quickened his pace.

Cody hadn't moved. "T.K., maybe we should go and get the others now, we'll come right back. Hey are you listening?"

T.K. hesitated. "Just a second." He was only a few feet away from light but the stone underfoot shifted lightly, ignoring it he took another step. His stomach churned as the ground gave way and he began falling—Cody and Armadillomon hollered his name frantically as he fell into a black abyss under the ruins.

He closed his eyes tightly and waited for the impact, his body tensed as he felt himself fall into something soft, slowing his momentum slightly, followed by an instantaneous ripping sound as he continued to the ground, slamming down on the ground on his back, knocking the wind out of him. He opened his eyes, choking for air he was able to make out the patch of light coming from above was where he'd fallen down and draped material that had managed to cling to the ceiling decoratively for all this time came floating down around him. Hearing Cody and Armadillomon's yelling was the last thing he heard before losing consciousness…

#

Cody started running forward but Armadillomon grabbed his leg. "Cody! The ground could give way under you too, slow down!"

Cody nearly tripped over Armadillomon, stumbling to a halt he called out T.K.'s name again. "T.K.!"

Armadillomon walked forward slowly. "Follow me exactly Cody." He could sense the earth beneath them was full of hollow and dense areas and led Cody toward the hole in the ground. He hesitated just before the gap in the ground and tentatively pressed down on it, finding it stable, but not solid—"Be careful." He spoke sternly to Cody as they walked up to the hole.

Cody looked down, his eyes widened seeing the unconscious boy laying several feet below them. "T.K.! Hey!" Cody's hand began to shake. "T.K., say something!"

Armadillomon looked around wearily. "I don't see how we're going to get to him from here."

"Can't you digivolve into Digmon and dig your way down there?" Cody looked at his friend, not even trying to hide the worry on his face. "He's…" his voice caught.

"If I start digging the whole underground could start collapsing and maybe this room will get caught up in it or it won't—are you willing to take that chance? Because I'm not."

"Maybe we can widen the hole and you can jump down?" Cody pressed.

"It's not safe." Armadillomon reiterated.

Cody closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "What are we supposed to do then?"

"We need to find the others." Armadillomon's words echoed Cody's thoughts.

"We can't just leave him." Cody looked at Armadillomon with concern.

"The two of us can't split up either." Armadillomon scowled at Cody. "Let's hurry and head west—Finding Davis and Ken is our best hope at this point."

"What if they've already headed back to the village?" Cody looked back down at T.K.. "What if—"

"Then we keep going until we can find service and tell them what happened. Cody we're wasting time." Armadillomon growled.

Cody hesitated before nodding and standing up, following Armadillomon back toward the forest.

#

T.K. opened his eyes slowly. His body felt stiff and weak as he remained still. After a few seconds his vision began to clear and he was able to make out his surroundings, squinting up at the light beaming down on him from the hole in the ceiling he slowly pushed himself up. "Cody?" his voice was weak—he inhaled deeply and called out again, louder. No response.

He lifted up his left arm slowly, seeing if he'd reinjured it in the fall—no more sore than the rest of his body felt, but he wasn't 100% sure he hadn't set his recovery back.

His head throbbed lightly as he looked around the large wide room. Broken pillars and other debris lay strewn across the grey stone interior of the room. Deep red tapestries hung faded and tattered on the stone walls and the matching material that had been suspended from the ceiling now hung loosely around him—they had managed to slow his fall and save him from worse injury—though their age made them tear easily.

Standing slowly he reached his hand to his head, trying not to wince as the throbbing grew worse with each movement he made. "What is this…?" he noted several doorways in different directions, some were collapsed and piles of stone poured from them, others were still intact.

Moving even a little way away from the light pouring in from the ceiling rendered T.K. almost blind to the dark corners of the room—no light penetrated this ruin below ground—he knew walking further into the ruins would be foolish. He'd be lost in the pitch blackness in no time at all. He looked up and realized the size of the room, however, meant the light coming up from the ground above had have come from this room, considering the distance between him and where the light was when he fell.

Stepping back under the light he tried to face the direction he had been before, not certain, but fairly sure of his accuracy he was facing a narrow doorway now—if the light wasn't in this room, it had to of come from that direction.

Inhaling slowly, trying to calm his nerves he looked back up and hollered for Cody one last time. "Are you still there?" After a few long seconds T.K. sighed. Turning around he thought he saw something in the shadows out of the corner of his eye. He turned and stared at the darkness, unsure of himself now. He tried to slow his pulsing heart beat with slow steady breathes but the feeling of something else being down there with him suddenly hit him and he couldn't shake it.

He was alone and vulnerable. Cody had probably gone for help—at least he assumed. Meaning that if something else _was_ there, he didn't stand much of a chance.

A flicker of golden light caught T.K.'s eyes—he turned and faced the narrow corridor again—the light was glimmering from deep within the ruins, almost like it was beckoning to him.

"What if it is…" T.K. frowned, walking forward he found his right side ached terribly, pulling up his white button up shirt he saw a nasty purple and yellow bruise forming on his side. "Great." He sighed and pulled his shirt down, continuing he walked toward the doorway, finding he could barely see his hand in front of his face he pressed his palm to the wall and slowly moved into the darkness.

The silence around him as he walked only made each step he took echo that much louder, the crunch of loose debris under foot echoed off the walls and far down the narrow passage. After a few minutes he stopped and contemplated turning around. Glancing back he could barely see the light from the large room. He inhaled deeply and then a sharp crunch from further down the passage sounded, making him turn back toward the direct he had been heading—He took a slow step backwards.

Closing his eyes he listened intently—several minutes passed without a sound. He thought of several excuses to what the noise could have been, the structure was old and probably deteriorating. Anything could have been knocked loose from his disturbance. His mind could also have been playing tricks on him.

He opened his eyes he looked ahead confidently at the black abyss, every few seconds he'd see the gleam of light in the distance, keeping him moving forward. Each step he took he quickened his pace, "I've made bad decisions before, but this probably takes the cake." He spoke to himself quietly, irritated. Suddenly his hand felt the wall disappear, he stopped and reached out, realizing there was another corridor going across the one he was already in. "Great." He huffed as turned back the way he'd come—he couldn't see the light from outside anymore.

Turning he decided to keep going down the same path—but a light to his right caught his attention. It was only for a split second, but that shimmering white and gold light shone down the right hand path. He felt that feeling again, familiarity, comfort—he was being drawn toward it. He turned and followed after the light—the light he used to hold around his neck as a child.

#

Cody stopped, out of breath. "I can't…" Cody huffed. "We have to go back."

"Cody we can't, we have to find the others!" Armadillomon urged.

Cody started to argue but stopped, unable to believe what he was hearing—Davis. He took off running, pushing through the forest into a clearing almost running right into Davis, Veemon and, to his surprise, Patamon.

"I don't believe it." Cody fell to his knees weakly.

Armadillomon gaped at the others as they stared confusedly at Cody and Armadillomon.

Davis raised an eyebrow at them. "There you are! We were looking all over for you, we lost service a while ago so Ken went to find Kari and Yolie and I went to find you. Ken and I found Patamon. Turns out he was just visiting—"

"—Nevermind that. T.K.—" Cody gasped. "He fell, he's…" he stammered.

Everyone frowned at Cody's interruption. Davis knelt beside him. "Slow down, tell us what happened."

"There's been no service. I couldn't get a hold of anyone." Cody pushed himself up. "I'll explain on the way, we need to hurry."

Davis nodded. "Let's go."

#

T.K. had found himself at yet another juncture in what he could only assume was an underground maze. Each time he'd found himself lost he'd catch a glimmer of light out of the corner of his eye—This time he stood in complete darkness waiting for what seemed forever. But he could feel the sensation of the light nearby. The sensation the crest of hope had always given him.

"It just can't be…" he frowned and closed his eyes, taking in the feeling, trying to discern it from the power of the crests. "…we gave up the power of our crests years ago." A loud hiss sounded through the corridors around him and he opened his eyes just as a sharp blinding light lit up the entire underground as far as T.K. could see in any direction, he closed his eyes and then, squinting, looking up to see a room straight ahead. The light faded, but the cracks in the walls and floor still glowed with a pulsing golden light.

T.K. blinked, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness again. He ran ahead toward the room but just before reaching the entrance it turned into a dead end. The stone wall where the doorway had been seconds before, bore a carving of the crest of hope. T.K. stopped abruptly and stared at it. "It _is_ the crest of hope." He reached his hand up and pressed his palm to the stone. The symbol of hope glowed brightly and T.K. gasped in pain, grasping his chest he fell to his knees.

T.K. yelled out a strangled cry of pain as flashes of things he knew and things he'd never see before ran through his mind. The walls around him lit with writing T.K. didn't recognize—it wasn't the digital language they'd seen strewn over the digital world over the past several years, these were different, more like insignia and symbols than singular letters or words. The outline on his crest pulsing brightly.

#

"He's just through here." Cody yelled as they could see the ruins clearly now. "There." He pointed toward the hole in the ground.

"Be careful where you step." Armadillomon hollered.

Suddenly the five of them stopped as Phelesmon stepped out from behind some ruined beams and blocked their way to T.K., pointing his triton at them he smirked.

"Who is that?" Armadillomon growled.

Veemon answered before Davis, "The digimon that attacked the village last month."

Cody felt a chill run down his spine—the evil intent running through the air around the digimon left him frozen in his spot. "Paildramon couldn't beat him?" he glanced at Davis who was scowling at the digimon, completely oblivious to Cody's question.

He noted Davis' hand curled into fists, fear infiltrating his angered expression. "We have to fight, but…" he didn't take his eyes off the digimon.

"We got this, right Veemon?" Armadillomon nudged Veemon lightly, but his concerned expression didn't leave his face.

Veemon looked back up at Davis worriedly. "Davis?"

"Just hold him off." Davis nodded hesitantly.

"Right!" Veemon grew more determined and motioned for Armadillomon to follow.

Davis pulled out his digivice and lifted it up. "Digivolve Veemon!"

Veemon leap forward but after a few seconds he turned to Davis with a perplexed look on his face. "I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Davis growled.

Cody looked at his digivice and to Armadillomon who shook his head. "What about Armor Evolution?" he pulled out his D-Terminal. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

Armadillomon shrugged. "Nothing's responding."

"This is bad." Davis' voice lost all its confidence. "Veemon, back off."

Before Veemon or Armadillomon could move Phelesmon dashed forward, attacking the rookie digimon. Patamon shot out a boom bubble that distracted the enemy long enough for Veemon and Armadillomon to escape Phelesmon's range.

"We have to run."

"But T.K.—" Davis grabbed Cody and pulled him back sharply, whispering. "If he hasn't already done something to him than maybe he doesn't know he's down there. If we can make him chase after us…"

"We'll get him away from T.K." Cody nodded.

Before they could do anything else though, Phelesmon caught Armadillomon, knocking him into a pile of ruined stone, the impact de-digivolving his rookie partner back to his in-training form of Upamon.

"Upamon!" Cody made to run for his now unconscious digimon, but Patamon knocked Cody down. "You'll be killed!" He squeaked weakly in Cody's ear.

Davis watched as Veemon dodged another attack from the ultimate level digimon, his heart racing. "Veemon!"

"Just run Davis!" his digimon growled as he leapt back again, the sharp edges of the triton nicking Veemon's chest.

Davis turned to Cody and Patamon. "We have to run."

"I don't think so." Phelesmon's smooth voice snickered. A wave of black energy shot toward Davis—Veemon slammed into his partner, just barely pushing Davis away from the attack in time.

Veemon was sent flying into a nearby tree which toppled on impact, leaving a wounded DemiVeemon laying at its splinted base.

Davis pushed himself up and looked back at his unconscious partner, unable to move as Phelesmon slowly walked up to him, pointing his triton at Davis. "Weak."

Cody sat frozen with Patamon on his shoulder watch everything unfold. "This can't…"

Patamon took off in a rush toward Davis, placing himself in between the boy and Phelesmon. "I won't let you!" Patamon growled.

Phelesmon smirked. "How are you going to stop me, weak one?" his grin widened as he pulled the triton back readying for the strike.

Suddenly the entire ruin burst with light coming up through creases and cracks in the ground. It faded after a few seconds, but Phelesmon lowered his weapon and looked back toward the ruins with concern. "What is he…" Patamon froze at the sensation that coursed through him—a feeling he hadn't felt in years.

"What is…this?" Davis gaped at the gold light that filtered around them.

Cody looked toward the hole in the ground behind Phelesmon, the light gleaming brightly from the ground there. "T.K.?"

#

T.K. gasped for air, his vision began to fade in and out and then he began to see Patamon—Patamon was with Davis and Cody outside. He could clearly make out the situation—the digimon were de-digivolved and injured, Davis and Cody were in danger.

"Stop." T.K. managed to choke out. "Patamon, stop him."

T.K. suddenly felt the power that'd been surrounding him all this time flow into him, coughing for air desperately. "Patamon!" he growled, clenching his teeth he felt the power of his lost crest painfully pulse through his body. T.K. felt numb as he looked. His eyes widened as he saw Wisemon who merely stood watching him. He looked down at the floor, seeing blood dripping down onto the back of his shaking hands. Blood that came dripping from the corner of his mouth—the taste of blood was suddenly prominent. Screaming in pain more flashes of visions infiltrated his mind.

#

Davis and Cody watched as Patamon suddenly burst with light and digivolved into Angemon, just barely stopping Phelesmon's triton from reaching Davis, his golden staff shook against the strength of the ultimate digimon before him—this would only buy Davis and Cody a few seconds.

Angemon shoved Phelesmon back, the cocky grin on the digimon's face now contorted with anger. "We all fall down."

Angemon stood his ground, standing between Phelesmon and the boys. He almost dropped his staff at the pained sound of T.K.'s voice echoing through his mind. " _Stop. Patamon Stop him_."

In that instant Angemon felt the power of the crest of hope flow into him as if T.K. had been standing beside him with the crest and tag around his neck. "T.K.!" Angemon lunged forward, bursting with another flash of light MangaAngemon was suddenly driving Phelesmon back.

Cody gaped as he stood and watched the two ultimate digimon battle. "How could he reach ultimate? T.K.…" He dashed forward toward the hole in the ground. The light was beginning to dim as Cody peered down to where T.K. had been the last time—he was gone.

Davis took the opportunity to grab DemiVeemon and Upamon before following after Cody. "What's going on?"

"T.K.'s gone." Cody turned back to Davis before looking up at the ensuing battle that had taken to the sky by now.

Each blow MangaAngemon dealt with his sword was countered with another from Phelesmon's triton. Pulses of energy cast off each of the digimon as they exchanged blows.

"I will not let you kill them!" MangaAngemon declared as his sword finally made contact with the demon digimon, sending him back down toward the ground.

Phelesmon slid to a stop, straightening he laughed. "You and your holier than thou act. I'll watch the day you fall from grace!" He sneered and shoved himself back into the air. "Demon Shout!"

A wave of black energy shot from Phelesmon toward MangaAngemon. He countered quickly. "Shield Counter!" MangaAngemon lifted his shield and deflected the black energy, diving down he drove his sword into Phelesmon's chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Wise…" Phelesmon coughed, blood seeping between his lips. "…mon."

"Soul Banish!" MangaAngemon's sword glowed with a bright energy inside Phelesmon's chest, turning the digimon into digital particles.  
Cody looked horrified. "He killed him."

Davis grimaced. "But he saved our lives." He looked at the unconscious digimon in his arms.

#

T.K. heaved with each breath he took, the pain was overwhelming. His vision went in and out, flashes of MangaAngemon's battle flickering through his mind. He had won.

T.K. looked up at Wisemon again. "What do you want?"

Wisemon tilted his head and remained silent. The light pulsing through the walls and around the symbol of his crest began to fade. "Why does it hurt so much?" He tried to pull himself up but found his body refused to listen to him. He gasped through the pain, collapsing and losing consciousness.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed. I was sleep deprived through most of this, so forgive me if its not as good as the past chapters.

Thank you all for your feedback too. I love, love, love reading your reviews. Everytime I get an email saying I have a new follower/favorite/review I get a warm feeling in my heart.

Speaking of followers, during last month The Spirit of Hope reached over 60 followers! That's so awesome. So thank you everyone who is following my writing.

If you would like to help support me and my original work, please check out **The Silent Ballad Series**. I just updated my website with wonderful character profile art as well so if you've checked it out before, be sure to stop by back and see the new "Characters" page!


	16. The Catalyst - Ch 16

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or am I associated with anyone who does.

Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews! I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Please continue to support and encourage me through this story. :)

* * *

Wisemon pressed his hand against the stone wall, his claws caressing the glowing symbols. "The runes are here."

"But you lost the boy and the crest." A woman's voice sounded from around the corner in the vast darkness.

Wisemon shifted his hand to another marking on the wall. "These runes are the key. Without them the boy and the crest are useless."

"Are these not also useless without the boy and the crest?" the voice sneered.

"He became the catalyst of his own will—half our work is done." Wisemon glanced to the floor where T.K. had collapsed, now only a few drops of blood left in his place.

"Is that why you didn't attempt to assist Phelesmon? Why you allowed a valuable ally to succumb to deletion before it was necessary?"

Wisemon didn't respond to her question. "The boy will return eventually."

"I will take care him this time." The woman's voice hissed from the darkness.

Wisemon ignored the voice and continued to study and memorize each and every rune scattered down the passageway.

#

Kari glanced at her cellphone worriedly. "What do you think is causing the interference? We haven't had any difficulties using our phones in the digital world before." The sun was beginning to set, casting shadows around them in the forest.

Ken nodded. "It's weird, right?"

Yolie sighed pushing through the underbrush of the forest into the clearing around the village. "No kidding. Even our D-Terminals aren't responding." She looked at Hawkmon with concern.

Kari looked around the peaceful village. "At least we found Patamon."

Gatomon nodded. "I can't believe he didn't tell us he was going to the primary village. He always has before."

Hawkmon shrugged. "Honestly, we all overreacted, did we not?"

Yolie nodded. "I guess. But it seemed really weird to me, plus after we lost service I was sure something was up."

Suddenly Ken's phone started beeping—indicating he'd just received a text. "Hmm?"

Kari glanced at her phone seeing the service bars had suddenly come back. "Finally…" she stopped at the look on Ken's face. "What's wrong?"

Ken clicked on Davis' name and put the phone to his ear, hearing Davis' voice pick up almost immediately. "What happened?"

Kari moved closer, trying to hear Davis' response. She couldn't quite make out what he said, he was talking too quickly and his tone of voice was unusual.

"We need to go." Ken turned to Wormmon. "Digivolve. Now."

"What's wrong Ken?" Wormmon asked worriedly. "Did something happen?"

"Davis." Ken spoke firmly, interrupting Davis. "Where are you? We're on our way. Don't…" he paused. "Listen to me. Is he— _Davis_ stop." Ken said Davis' name sharply. "Are you okay?"

Kari's heart beat quickened. "Ken what's going on?" she found her voice almost too quiet to hear, Yolie, Hawkmon, Gatomon and Wormmon all staring at Ken anxiously.

Ken lifted his hand and shook his head at them as he listened to Davis. "Just stay where you are. Don't go looking for him on your own, got it?" Ken hung up the phone and turned back to Wormmon. "I'll explain on the way, we need to go."

Wormmon didn't wait for Ken to repeat himself and digivolved. Hawkmon gave Yolie a questioning look and then followed Wormmon's example, digivolving in a flash of light to Aquilamon.

"Ken." Yolie grabbed his arm worriedly. "What's going on?"

Ken glanced at Kari who was staring at him with anticipation. "Davis and Cody were attacked by Phelesmon. He didn't go into any real details, but they aren't in any immediate danger now."

"Wait, what about—" Kari's voice cracked. "T.K.?"

Ken averted his gaze and leapt up onto Stingmon's arm, climbing up onto his shoulder. "They don't know where T.K. is."

Kari's eyes widened. "What?"

"Let's hurry." Ken motioned for Stingmon to fly.

Gatomon pulled on Kari's skirt. "I'm sure he's fine."

Kari swallowed hard and nodded. "Where are Davis and Cody?"

Ken lifted his digivice. "They're working again too. Their signals are pretty far out north." Yolie, Kari and Gatomon all climbed up onto Aquilamon and they took off. "Stingmon's faster than Aquilamon, we're going to go ahead." Ken informed.

Yolie nodded. "Be careful. We'll be right behind you."

Ken and Stingmon sped off in an instant leaving them behind. Aquilamon following as quickly as his wings would allow.

"They're okay, right?" Kari's voice shook. "T.K.'s shoulder…" she bit her lip.

Yolie grabbed Kari's arm. "Stop that."

Kari looked at Yolie in surprise, tears forming in his glossy eyes. "But…"

"Don't assume the worst. We have to believe everything is alright." Yolie tried to give her an encouraging smile, Kari only nodded and closed her eyes, lowering her face. "Kari…"

#

Opening his eyes T.K. found the white ceiling painfully bright. Moaning he pushed himself up and looked around the small room. He was sitting on a bed, a high tech computer to the left indicating his vital signs, despite having nothing attached to his body to support the steady beeping noises that monitored his heart rate. A small desk in the other corner with a large monitor and a clipboard.

T.K. felt weak. Glancing down he saw drops of blood on his chest, staining his white shirt. Reaching down he lifted his shirt finding the large bruise on his side had turned dark purple.

"Where am I?" He looked around with concern. "What happened?" He tried to make sense of what had happened before he'd lost consciousness but everything was hazy.

The single door across from where he sat, opened up and a man walked in—a man T.K. recognized immediately. "Gennai?"

The much younger version of Gennai stood in front of T.K., a relieved look on his face. "I'm glad you're awake. I was beginning to worry."

"What's happening?" T.K. asked worriedly. "Where am I?"

"I brought you here." Gennai took a seat at the desk and picked up the clipboard. "Your friends are worried about you, however, so I can't keep you much longer."

"Are they alright?" T.K. inquired lightly.

"Thanks to you, they are." His eyes shifted to the monitor before he rested the clipboard in his lap. "You were lucky that you were able to utilize the crest without a tag as the medium. However…" he frowned at T.K. "The raw power from the crests running directly through your body is very dangerous."

T.K.'s muscles tightened as he began remember more clearly the pain he'd been in. "But we've used the power of our crests without the tags before."

"Your battle with Apocalymon?" T.K. nodded. "I can't account for that—the dimensional rift and everything that happened in that space are unexplainable."

T.K. frowned. "Why is my crest back?"

"The crests were always an immaterial presence in the digital world. However the system solidified the powers when the digidestined were needed. That is why your partner's were born with the tags attached to their eggs. The crests were the condensed powers of the digital world and the tags were the catalyst that you would need in order to safely utilize the power."

T.K. inhaled slowly, trying to take in everything Gennai was explaining. "But we returned the crests."

"The crests, over time, could reform if the digital world saw fit." Gennai looked at T.K. worriedly. "But the tags, I'm afraid, are not as easily recreated."

"So then what?" T.K. frowned.

Gennai touched the monitor and clicked on a program—the crest's power, in particularly your crest's, is immense. Without a _proper_ catalyst of some sort, the power could kill you."

"So I can't use it?" T.K. frowned. "So I just stay away from those ruins or…?"

Gennai gave T.K. a concerned gaze before setting the clipboard down on the desk and facing the boy. "When you used the power of the crest to digivolve Patamon to MangaAngemon, you absorbed the power directly into you. Basically…"

"… _I'm_ the catalyst?" T.K. frowned.

"An unstable catalyst that cannot contain the power." Gennai sighed. "Your human body cannot withstand the expulsion of power needed to continue digivolving Patamon to ultimate—and if ever you were to achieve warp digivolution..."

T.K. tried to stand, wincing he gripped the edge of the bed tightly to steady himself. "Is there nothing we can do?"

Gennai shook his head. "No."

"What's happening?" T.K. narrowed his eyes at Gennai. "Wisemon—"

"Wisemon approached you." Gennai interrupted him. "Did he say anything to you?"

"He said I was the gate. What does that even mean? Gate to what?" T.K. could feel his frustration building inside.

"I don't know the answer to that. Whatever Wisemon is planning however, has me very concerned."

"Who is he?" T.K. gave Gennai a desperate look.

"Wisemon _was_ the keeper of prophecy and knowledge of the digital world. He was neither good nor evil. A keeper of the records, if you will." Gennai brought up the digital data base on the monitor. Everything was encoded and looked corrupted. "He was a very intellectual digimon and understood this world on another level than any before him—however, the rumors have it that he knew too much and it drove him insane."

"Insane?" T.K. frowned.

"He dove deep into the fabric of the digital world with the aim to delete everything about himself—including himself."

T.K.'s eyes widened. "Delete himself?"

Gennai nodded. "However the method in which he chose did not accomplish things as cleanly as he'd anticipated. Instead of total deletion he became corrupted data and disappeared." Gennai looked T.K. in the eyes. "At least that's what I thought until Izzy emailed me asking about a digimon that has no existence in this time."

T.K. swallowed hard. "What does he want?"

"I honestly cannot fathom what is lurking in the shadows of that digimon's hallow mind. Corruption to that level… If he's even the same digimon as before I would be completely surprised."

T.K. closed his eyes. "Does all this mean we have a new enemy to face?"

Gennai pursed his lips. "The digital world still seems at peace. The reforging of the crest of hope is concerning and Wisemon's return certainly casts a shadow over the digital world. But whether you have a new enemy to face or not remains undetermined."

"How did I…?" T.K. pressed his palm to his forehead and leaned forward. "Wisemon was there, in the ruins, when I collapsed."

Gennai didn't seem surprised. "I brought you here through digital transference. It's rather risky, but if I hadn't, I feel you would have fallen into Wisemon's hands."

T.K. inhaled deeply. "How long ago?"

"It's been nearly an hour. Once Phelesmon was destroyed the data corruption blocking the signals to your digivices and cellphones also disappeared—another reason I was able to extract you."

T.K. stood up and took a step toward the door. "I need to go back." He felt lightheaded and cringed, almost losing his balance.

Gennai was suddenly at T.K.'s side, steadying him. "Give yourself a few minutes. You _are_ hurt."

T.K. inhaled slowly. "I'm fine." He spoke firmly.

Gennai released T.K. as he straightened. "You understand how the crests power worked before. If you or someone you cared about was in danger they would activate on their own accord."

T.K. frowned at Gennai. "I know."

"You shouldn't come back to the digital world anymore. If the crest activates…"

"You're telling me to abandon my friends? What? So they can be the ones in danger instead? So that whatever this digimon wants from me, he can just use them as bait to get me back here? No." T.K. shook his head.

Gennai stared at T.K. solemnly before he continued. "It is in your best interest to stay somewhere safe. That's all."

T.K. lowered his gaze to the floor. "Take me back."

#

Kari leapt down from Aquilamon, Gatomon hot on her heels as they rushed toward Davis and the others. She grasped his arm tightly. "Are you alright?" she looked him over, covered in bruises and dirt.

Davis shifted uncomfortably. "Just a few bruises. Nothing major." He glanced down at DemiVeemon in his arms. "They both took attacks from Phelesmon in rookie form though."

Cody, holding Upamon likewise, grimaced. "T.K.'s missing too."

Kari looked to the younger boy who was clearly distressed over everything that had happened. "Where is he?" she saw Patamon flying nearby Ken and Wormmon—T.K. was alone.

"Okay. Start from the beginning." Yolie demanded as she and Hawkmon walked up.

Cody opened his mouth to speak but stopped, looking to the ground guiltily. Davis saw this and did his best to explain everything he'd heard from Cody and everything that had happened after.

Gatomon stared at Patamon in awe. "You reached ultimate without T.K.'s help?"

Patamon hesitated and everyone looked to the little digimon. "Not exactly. I felt T.K.'s presence. I could hear him. I know I sound crazy, but it's true."

"Let's stop talking about what happened and look for T.K., it's almost dark out." Ken injected suddenly. Everyone nodded silently.

Davis made to move and winced. Kari noticed and turned back around. "Davis?"

He tried to smile but it turned into a grimace. "No. I'm fine. I just twisted my ankle when Veemon shoved me out of the way earlier."

Kari felt anxiety pulsing through her chest—T.K. was somewhere alone and hurt and perhaps in real danger, but she couldn't zone everyone else out. "You need to go sit down."

"No. We all need to look for—"

Ken interrupted him. "She's right. Go sit down. You don't want to make it any worse—you're depending on that ankle to get you through college."

"But I—"

"T.K.?" Patamon shouted in disbelief.

Everyone looked the direction Patamon was staring, seeing T.K. walking toward them slowly from the forest. Cody and Patamon both dashed toward him first, everyone following quickly behind them—except Kari. She stared at him with tears flowing from her eyes, relief immobilizing her.

"T.K.!" Cody reached him and grabbed his arm. "How? Where were you? What happened?"

T.K. was a little overwhelmed by everyone crowding around him. "Ehh… I woke up and you were gone, so I decided to look for a way out…" he pointed back toward the forest. "There was another entrance to the ruins back through there, but it was dark down there and I got lost a few times." He smiled weakly.

"Are you hurt?" Ken stared at him worriedly.

"I think I have a pretty nasty bruise from the fall, but surprisingly that's it." He had buttoned his green blazer all the way up to hide the blood stains on his white shirt.

When T.K. turned back he saw Kari staring at him with tears glistening in her eyes. "I was scared." she pressed her palm against his chest, curling her fingers she grasped his blazer weakly. "I…"

T.K. smiled brightly. "I'm fine." He shifted so her hand fell from his clothing and looked at Patamon, raising an eyebrow at the digimon irritated. "And where were you?"

Patamon frowned defensively. "Since when do I need report my every move?"

"Since you know how paranoid I am." T.K. snapped.

Patamon's frown faded. "I'm sorry."

T.K. sighed and ran his hands through his mussed hair tiredly. "I'm sorry too." He glanced at Davis and Cody. "Are you two alright?"

They glanced at each other and then back at T.K., Davis nodded. "Yeah, thanks to Patamon digivolving."

T.K. glanced at Patamon curiously. Everything was still so hazy he couldn't remember exactly what had happened—other than seeing MangaAngemon take Phelesmon out. "I don't know how, but I'm glad it happened."

Patamon tilted his head at T.K. "Do you remember saying anything to me?"

"Uhm…" T.K. shrugged. "The ruins filled with light and then I heard some pretty loud commotion from above ground. That's about all that happened down there."

The two boys glanced at each other again and Cody frowned, his eyebrows twitching with anger. "MangaAngemon destroyed Phelesmon."

T.K. nodded. "I'm glad he was able to protect—"

"Why would you be okay with that?" Cody hissed. Everyone looked at Cody with confusion.

T.K. frowned but before he answered he stopped himself—if he told them anything they'd know he somehow had seen the battle, the thought of trying to explain everything made his head throb. Patamon saved him and injected quickly. "He was aiming to kill you two! What did you expect me to do?"

Cody shook his head. "But killing isn't the answer. How can we justify killing the evil digimon when that makes us no better than them!"

T.K. was tired and his side was throbbing terribly with each breath he took. "Enough. Patamon did what he had to."

"You can't condone his behavior like that, T.K." Cody argued.

"That's enough." Ken stepped between the two. "It's late and we're in no condition to be standing out here arguing."

#

Everyone materialized in the computer lab in a heap. T.K. held his breath, biting back a moan as he tried to fight the pain in his side—grateful it was so dim in the classroom that no one saw his face contorted with pain before he pushed himself up and composed himself.

"You think DemiVeemon and Upamon will be alright?" Davis asked as he used a nearby chair to stand up.

Kari nodded. "Gatomon and the others will look after them. They weren't hurt as badly as we thought after all."

Davis let out a worried sigh. "I know."

Kari pull Davis' arm over her shoulder. "I'll walk you home."

Yolie looked worriedly at them. "I can give him a ride in my car."

Davis shrugged. "I'm honestly fine. It doesn't even hurt that much anymore."

Kari rolled her eyes. "Then why are you leaning against me so dependently?"

Davis smiled slyly. "Oh, am I?"

Kari sighed. "He's obviously fine. We'll manage." She glanced over at T.K. briefly, seeing him staring at her. He quickly turned to face Ken when their eyes met.

"I have a doctor's appointment for my shoulder tomorrow, so I won't see you guys after school."

Yolie grasped Ken's arm tightly, drawing his attention. "I'm going to take Cody home, are you going to head straight home?"

Ken hesitated. "Yeah. I'm going to give T.K. a ride and then I'll probably just go home and get some rest."

She nodded and gave him a light smile. "Okay."

Cody and T.K.'s eyes met briefly but Cody quickly turned and without saying goodbye walked past the group into the hall.

Yolie sighed. "Bye everyone."

Kari pursed her lips. "We're going too."

With a quick wave Kari and Davis followed after Yolie.

Ken watched the doorway for a few minutes before he turned to T.K. "Show me."

"Show you?" T.K. raised an eyebrow at him.

"Your side." He nodded to T.K.

T.K. shook his head. "I'll walk home." T.K. turned and started walking toward the door when Ken reached over and grabbed T.K.'s right arm, yanking him back.

T.K. almost keeled over in pain, choking on the yelp of pain he tried to fight back. "Seriously?" T.K. felt sick to his stomach and slowly knelt down onto his knees, holding his side.

"Sorry." Ken didn't have much of an apologetic tone in his voice. "I _am_ getting kind of tired of you lying to me, though."

"Really?" T.K. moaned, holding his breath.

Ken knelt beside him. "I never used to worry about you lying to me."

"Maybe I'm not." T.K.'s tone darkened. "Maybe I'm lying to myself." He looked Ken in the eyes and let out a frustrated laugh. "Don't look at me like that."

Ken closed his eyes in frustration. "Let's go."

* * *

Thank you for reading!

(Side Note: I didn't recall until recently that Patamon had actually reached mega during one of the digimon movies. But for this we're just going to pretend that neither Patamon or Gatomon has reached mega. I do consider the movies canon material, compared to how most anime movies are basically filler material, and I am trying my best to make things coincide with the anime. Although alterations may be necessary, I won't change things lightly.)

As per the usual, blah blah blah, check out my original work, because I think its pretty good, blah blah. Google _**The Silent Ballad Series** _ (because I can't post links here!) you can also find my full novels available on and kindle!

You're all awesome and again thank you for the feedback. I look forward to getting a new chapter out soon!


	17. Alone - Ch 17

I do not own Digimon nor am I associated with anyone who does.

Hello all! I apologize for taking so very long to post this, and it's not even that long! Forgive me. Not to bore you all with my personal life, but things have been a bit crazy over the past few months. (I found out I'm pregnant!) So between the normal life things getting in the way, fatigue and other things have been contributing to my lack of writing, and not just with my fic, but also my actual books. But I've finally found a little time and energy to get the next chapter out. I will admit that I'm in a tricky spot with this chapter... I didn't want it to be boring, (but maybe it is?) but it's leading up to a big plot point and I wanted to make sure I didn't mess it up by doing something I couldn't change later. So that being said, I hope you enjoy and please do look forward to another chapter much sooner than this one came. Again, I apologize for the long wait and I appreciate your patience with me!

* * *

Cody pulled the passenger door open and slid into Yolie's car without a word, his face contorted with a frustrated expression as he avoided looking Yolie's direction as she got into the driver's seat.

"You were so worried about him before, you caught me off guard yelling at him like that." She didn't look at Cody, just stared out the front window at the darkening golds and reds shimmer in the fading sunset.

Cody pursed his lips and closed his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. "He's always been like that."

Yolie finally looked over at Cody with a sympathetic frown. "But Cody, T.K. wasn't even there when it happened and Patamon did what he had to in order to protect you and Davis, didn't he?"

"That's not the point!" Cody hissed. "It's because T.K. sees things in black and white. He holds so much anger toward the darkness he can't see that he's not any better than the enemies we face."

Yolie pushed herself back in her seat slamming her palms on the steering wheel. "First off!" she spoke unnecessarily loudly. "That's going too far. T.K.'s only ever done what he thought was best for everyone—even if that isn't how we see things, he's not doing anything near as terrible as some of the digimon we've faced in the past."

"But—" Cody started but was quickly interrupted.

"I'm not finished!" she turned to face the boy who was growing a concerned look on his face. "Second. You're taking out all your pent up anger towards T.K.. on an unrelated situation. That digimon tried to hurt our friends just a few weeks ago and by the sounds of it, was ready to kill both you and Davis today. If anything warranted Patamon's actions that was it."

"Pent up anger? What are you even talking about?" Cody glared at Yolie.

"You're still mad at him for never responding to your emails!" Yolie threw her arms up angrily, accidently smacking them on the roof of the car. "Ouch." She murmured angrily shaking her hands.

"That isn't…I don't even care about that. He's back and everything's been normal." Cody struggled. "We all had things going on. He just…"

Yolie's expression darkened. "I tried to tell you something happened. That T.K. wouldn't abandon us like that for no good reason."

"Then why? I thought—!" Cody cringed. "I thought we mattered to him. I thought we were his friends."

Yolie leaned forward, resting her forehead on her steering wheel. "It's complicated."

Cody frowned at her. "What? Did he tell you why?"

Yolie straightened, shrugging. "More or less I got the truth out of him."

"Then why?" Cody shouted, a look of desperation on his face. "What was it? Did we do something?"

Yolie looked over at Cody. "You should try talking to him about it."

Cody looked away from Yolie angrily. "It doesn't matter. I decided not to care."

"But you cared today, didn't you? You were worried about him and scared." Yolie gave Cody a light smile.

Cody closed his eyes again and nodded. "I was. And I was happy to see he was fine. But then all that worrying…the worrying I did before _and_ today." He looked up at the ceiling of Yolie's car. "I was worried about him when he left. I was worried when he stopped responding to not just my emails but yours as well. And then out of the blue he shows up, just fine, acting like the last year never even happened. It was so frustrating."

Yolie saw the hurt in his expression. "Cody…"

"And then it happened again today. I was so scared something had happened to him and then he just shows up, a few bruises and that's it."

"Would you have preferred he'd been seriously injured?" Yolie asked sarcastically, knowing the answer.

"Of course not! But he's just…" Cody trailed off staring out Yolie's front window. "…what?"

Yolie looked up to see what Cody was staring at, her eyes widening as she saw Ken and T.K. walking out of the school, T.K.'s arm over Ken's shoulder for support. "That's…"

They both held their breath watching in silence as T.K.'s pained expression stared awkwardly at the ground, holding his side tightly. Cody grabbed for the door handle and then stopped. Glancing back up he watched the two slowly walk towards Ken's parked car around the corner, oblivious to their presence. "He's not okay." His voice shook.

Yolie swallowed hard, looking at Cody. "Maybe he wasn't okay in Hokkaido, either."

Cody looked up at Yolie with a concerned frown. "But…"

"I'm not telling you that you shouldn't be upset that he stopped talking to you. But I think you should at least try and talk to him and let him know how you feel." She tried to smile. "I still think we're important friends to T.K., things just got complicated for him and he didn't want to burden anyone else."

Cody clenched his teeth and lowered his head. "But…"

#

Davis leaned against Kari's shoulder lightly, trying not to put too much pressure against her, all the while soaking in the close contact between them. Glancing over at her he noticed the worry in her expression and sighed loudly, pulling away from her.

She stopped and looked at him surprised. "Can you manage on your own?"

He gave her a look before he spoke softly. "Can I ask you a question?"

She gave him a skeptical look before nodding. "Sure."

Davis hesitated and then looked her in the eyes. "What's going on between you and T.K.?"

Kari frowned. "Davis, we've been over this. Nothing's going on."

"Kari I've been watching you for a long time. I know when you're okay or upset. I can see it in your eyes when something excites you or angers you. I can hear it in your voice when you're happy or when you're sad." Davis inhaled slowly. "I can tell when you're putting on a brave face and trying not to cry."

Kari averted her eyes from Davis' and stared at the cracks in the sidewalk. "Davis, you're just reading into things."

"Am I?" He narrowed his eyes at her, limping a few steps ahead, he turned to face her directly. "Because I'm pretty sure I'm not. I'm not trying to bring up my creepy stalker-ish past, but I've been watching you long enough to tell when something's wrong."

Kari shook her head before looking back up at Davis. She pushed her best feign smile and laughed at him. "You're being silly. Let's go home."

Kari started walking again, reaching up she grabbed his arm to pull it back over her shoulder, but Davis shifted and pulled away from her. "You're lying."

"I'm not." She glowered. "What do you want me to say?"

Davis sighed. "T.K. had a digiport installed on his computer the whole time he was gone."

Kari stared at Davis for a few minutes, taking in the information carefully—she remembered clearly that T.K. declined Izzy's offer to install it on his computer before he left—she never honestly thought about it after that. "He did?"

Davis gauged her reaction carefully. "You didn't know either?"

She shook her head. "No."

"What happened between you two?" Davis hesitated. "Or do I want to know?"

Kari shook her head. "Nothing."

Davis closed his eyes with frustration. "Something!"

"Nothing happened Davis!" Kari shouted, tears stinging at her eyes.

Davis watched as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. "Then why are you crying?"

"I'm not." She glared at Davis.

Taking a quick step forward he reached up and grabbed Kari, pulling her into his arms tightly, hugging her. "Don't cry over him or I might have to hurt him."

Kari let out a forced laugh as more tears came flowing from her eyes. "I'm not crying."

"Okay." Davis tightened his grip on her. "But _if_ he ever does makes you cry…" he had to take in a deep breath to compose himself. "…he'll have hell to pay. Got it?" She only gave a single nod, resting her head against Davis' chest.

#

T.K. winced as he pushed Ken's door open. "Thanks for the ride."

Ken didn't look at T.K. or respond. T.K. glanced at him before inhaling and holding his breath, preparing to heave himself to his feet.

"T.K." Ken's tone made him stop and turn to face his friend. It was dark out now and T.K. couldn't see Ken's expression clearly, but he knew he was angry.

"Hmm?" T.K. glared at his lap.

Ken leaned his head back and exhaled deeply. "So, you don't want to talk about what happened today, I take it."

T.K. shifted his eyes from Ken briefly before looking back at him. "I told you guys everything already."

Ken shook his head. "Right." The sarcasm in his tone was thick.

"What?" T.K. lifted his hands with annoyance. "What do you want me to say?"

"Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow." Ken shook his head.

T.K. pursed his lips. "Don't worry about me."

Ken laughed angrily. "Don't worry about you? Is that some kind of joke?" T.K. didn't move, didn't speak. "You're not alright. You'd have to be blind to see that."

"It's a bruise." T.K. shook his head angrily.

Ken slammed his fist on the steering wheel. "There's blood on your shirt!"

T.K. froze. Closing his eyes in defeat he leaned forward, a slight moan escaping his lips. "I'm—"

"If you say you're fine one more damn time T.K. I'm going to punch you." Ken glared at him.

T.K. swallowed hard and looked up at Ken. "I can't explain. I don't know how."

"Try!" Ken begged.

T.K. leaned back in his seat and pulled his backpack up into his lap. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"T.K.!" Ken hissed.

He pushed himself out of Ken's car and shut the door before Ken could say anything else.

#

One Week Later

T.K. opened his eyes and glanced at his clock, an hour still left before his alarm would go off to get ready for school, but he couldn't go back to sleep. The week had been long and tiring, between hiding his aches and pains and avoiding his friends altogether he was ready for the weekend tomorrow, but the events that had taken place in the digital world kept him in constant unease.

"Last day…" he murmured, pushing himself up—his side was still sore, but had begun healing quickly.

Making his way to the bathroom he didn't bother putting a shirt on, the bruise was almost gone and Matt rarely got up before we went to school unless he already had to be somewhere for band. Clicking the bathroom door shut and flipping the light switch on T.K. leaned over the sink and glanced up at the mirror, examining his tousled hair and the dark circles under his eyes.

Straightening he turned slightly to inspect his bruise, satisfied that no one would be able to tell during PE or otherwise—his doctor gave him the okay to go back to practice the next week, but that only left him a week of playing before the final game before summer vacation.

He raised his arms into a stretch and began getting ready for school. "One more day…"

#

Shoving his locker door closed T.K. pulled his backpack up onto his shoulder without hesitation, his shoulder having healed well enough that the pressure of his textbooks no longer bothered him. Turning he almost ran into Cody, quickly sidestepping he pressed his back against his locker door with an instinctual apology. "Sorry!"

Cody looked up a bit surprised, almost dropping the books piled in his arms. He opened his mouth to respond but just nodded and continued walking down the hall. T.K. inhaled slowly, watching Cody's back as he disappeared into the crowded hall.

He knew it'd been too easy to avoid his friends this week and he was beginning to realize that maybe it was because they were also avoiding him. It gave him a twinge of pain in his chest when he thought about it, but at the same time it gave him a sense of relief.

Classes zipped by and the last bell rang, releasing T.K. from the confines of the school walls for two full days. Piling his books back into his bag his teacher called him up to the front. He tried to ignore her calls but she called out a second time, louder and he looked up and nodded.

"Yes?" he asked wearily.

"Takaishi, can you do me a favor?" she asked with a wide smile.

He hesitated and then smiled in return. "What can I help with?"

She glanced down at a fairly small box with some file folders in it. "I am subbing for Mr. Moto with the detention students and I don't have time to run all the way upstairs and back down here. Could you return these files to the student council office?"

T.K. hesitated again, the student council office was just a few doors down from the computer lab. Being it was Friday he knew that he was likely to run into his friends on the way there or back.

"Please?" she smiled again.

T.K. nodded. "Sure."

#

Watching the halls emptying as he made his way up to the student council office, T.K. knew it'd be that much more awkward to avoid his friends in the hall if they met.

Each time a door opened to a classroom T.K. averted his gaze and stared at the floor in front of himself, relieved when no one called out to him or stopped and stared.

Walking past the computer lab he was slightly disappointed to see it empty, meaning that he could still run into them on his way back down.

Finally he was at the student council room, knocking lightly he entered finding it empty. He closed the door behind himself and walked past the cluttered front desks and set the box on the last one, the president's desk.

The room was dim but the sun hit the blinds just right, sending in streams of blinding light throughout the room, dust particles danced in the air and a musky smell emanated from the small over staffed council room.

T.K. held his breath, a weird feeling washing over him, like he was being watched. He released the box and straightened, staring straight ahead he swallowed hard and turned slowly—there was nothing there. He inhaled shakily and curled his hands into fists to stop his hands from trembling.

The feeling of being watched had grown steadily over the past week, paranoia reaching new levels as he shook his head and walked back across the room, reaching for the door he stopped at the sound of something toppling to the floor behind him, papers flying over the floor in a flurry.

He turned at the sound seeing the box he'd placed on the desk dumped onto the ground. He paused, looking around the impossibly small room—he _was_ alone.

Setting his pack on the floor next to the door he walked over and started gathering the contents of the box and putting them back inside as organized as he could manage, unsure which folders certain papers had come out of he did the best he could and replaced the box on the desk, being sure he set it in the middle of the desk so that it would not fall over again.

T.K. closed his eyes and composed himself, trying to fight the voices that echoed in his mind—Wisemon's eerie voice speaking the word "Gate" over and over again.

Pushing away from the desk T.K. walked back to the door and grabbed his backpack, closing the door to the council room behind him. He was lost in thought and had completely forgotten about avoiding his friends when he heard Ken call out his name. He looked up a bit bewildered and stopped to see Ken and Yolie about to walk into the computer lab.

T.K. had actively left school every day before Ken could get there and had ignored all his phone calls over the past week and he could easily tell Ken was angry by the expression on his face. "Hey." Was all T.K. could manage.

He could hear Kari and Cody talking in the computer lab, Yolie gave T.K. a sympathetic smile and waved before walking into the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Ken and T.K. alone in the hallway.

"I don't really know what to say anymore." Ken gave T.K. a defeated look, crossing his arms.

T.K. averted his gaze and adjusted his backpack. "I can't…" T.K. stopped.

Ken shook his head. "What is it? You don't trust me?"

T.K. shook his head. "That's not it."

"Then help me understand." Ken sighed.

T.K. looked back up at Ken, the whole situation with Wisemon, the crest and the things Gennai told him whirling in his mind, making his head ache. "I'm sorry."

Ken frowned at T.K. and shook his head. "I'm done."

T.K.'s chest tightened at his words but he couldn't say anything, how could he? He knew he wasn't being fair to Ken or any of them.

Ken pursed his lips. "If you don't want to talk to me about it, I can't make you. I'm done trying to help." T.K. only stared at the ground. "If you change your mind, I'm still here, but I'm not going to go out of my way for you anymore. I'm done being pushed away. You haven't spoken to any of us in a week and this isn't the first time you've gone silent on us. We don't deserve that, I don't care what's going on with you."

T.K. clenched his teeth and nodded. "You're right."

Ken seemed to regret his harsh words but not enough to take them back as T.K. walked past him and disappeared down the hall.

#

T.K. walked around the outside of the school and pressed his back against the wall, sliding down to the ground. His chest felt tight and everything that had been building up on him all this time was crashing around him.

Had he really pushed everyone away? Was he alone now? He didn't really want to be, but he felt it—the claustrophobic feeling of having no one to turn to if he needed it. What had he been aiming for this whole time? Because this wasn't what he'd wanted. It just wasn't.

"Dude, you alright?" Davis' voice suddenly interrupted the myriad of thoughts crashing against T.K.'s skull.

T.K. looked up, confused why Davis' was there, realizing a second later he was in his soccer uniform—he'd been at practice. "Yeah." He spoke quietly, not sure he could stand if he wanted to.

"You coming to the digital world today?" Davis asked lightly, seeming to take his answer despite it being obvious he wasn't alright.

T.K. shook his head. "No."

Davis' expression darkened. "You've been acting weird, you know?" he knelt down next to T.K. and pressed his back against the wall.

T.K. frowned and looked up at Davis briefly before looking back down at the ground. "Things have been weird lately."

Davis shrugged. "Yeah. But you're always the optimistic one, it's weird seeing things get you down like this. Ken told me that you were hurt a lot worse than you were letting on last week…" he trailed off finally looking down at T.K. "You doing alright? I heard that you're going back to basketball on Monday."

T.K. nodded. "I'm good."

Davis sighed loudly. "Well, that's good. We've been worried." He paused. "Kari's been worried."

T.K. closed his eyes at Davis' last sentence. "Tell everyone I'm fine. I'll try and make time to come hang out next week."

Davis stood. "Do you even care that she's worried about you?" His tone stiffened.

T.K. pursed his lips. "I'm not trying to make anyone worry."

"That's not what I'm asking." Davis growled.

T.K. pushed himself up as well and pulled his backpack up over his shoulder. "What are you asking then?"

Davis glared at T.K. for a few seconds before looking away angrily. "Nevermind."

T.K. almost laughed—he'd really done it, Davis was pissed off at him too. "I gotta go."

"Yeah…" Davis turned and walked away from T.K. without another word, making his way back to the locker rooms to change and meet up with the others upstairs.

T.K. inhaled deeply and headed home—he had to do something about what was going on in the digital world, because eventually, if they were _really_ after him they'd find a way to get him, and he knew that would inevitably put them in danger and he'd already put them through enough as it was, he wouldn't see any of them hurt because of him.

* * *

Again, sorry if it was boring. More excitement and perhaps some more insight into the new enemy and their plans in the next chapter. Thank you all for your support! Reviews and favorites are great motivators as well ;)

Also, please check out my original work by googling **_The Silent Ballad Series_**! If I hadn't explained before, it's a supernatural, post-apocalyptic series set in Europe.

Thanks again!


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